DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Pha·lanx n.; pl. Phalanxes L. Phalanges
 1. Gr. Antiq. A body of heavy-armed infantry formed in ranks and files close and deep.  There were several different arrangements, the phalanx varying in depth from four to twenty-five or more ranks of men. “In cubic phalanx firm advanced.”
    The Grecian phalanx, moveless as a tower.   --Pope.
 2. Any body of troops or men formed in close array, or any combination of people distinguished for firmness and solidity of a union.
    At present they formed a united phalanx.   --Macaulay.
 The sheep recumbent, and the sheep that grazed,
 All huddling into phalanx, stood and gazed.   --Cowper.
 3. A Fourierite community; a phalanstery.
 4. Anat. One of the digital bones of the hand or foot, beyond the metacarpus or metatarsus; an internode.
 5.  Bot. A group or bundle of stamens, as in polyadelphous flowers.
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