Troop

English

Noun

Troop (plural Troops)

1. A collection of people; a company; a number; a multitude.
2. (military) A small unit of cavalry or armour commanded by a captain, corresponding to a platoon or company of infantry.
3. A detachment of soldiers or police, especially horse artillery, armour, or state troopers.
4. Soldiers, military forces (usually "troops").
5. (nonstandard) A company of stageplayers; a troupe.
6. A particular roll of the drum
7. a unit of girl or boy scouts
8. an orderly crowd
9. (mycology) Mushrooms that are in a close group but not close enough to be called a cluster.

Derived terms

• trooper
• troopship
• troop carrier

Verb

Troop (third-person singular simple present Troops, present participle Trooping, simple past and past participle Trooped)

1. To move in numbers; to come or gather in crowds or troops.
2. To march on; to go forward in haste.
3. to move or march as if in a crowd; “The children trooped into the room”.

Derived terms

• troop the colour (British, military)

Thesaurus

KP, age group, ambulate, armed forces, army, army group, assemblage, assembly, band, battalion, battery, battle group, bevy, body, brigade, bunch, cabal, cadre, cast, clique, cohort, collection, colony, column, combat command, combat team, company, complement, contingent, corps, coterie, covey, crew, crowd, detachment, detail, division, drift, drive, drove, faction, field army, field train, file, fleet, flock, flying column, foot it, forces, gam, gang, garrison, gathering, group, grouping, groupment, herd, hoof, host, in-group, junta, kennel, kitchen police, legion, litter, maniple, military, mob, movement, multitude, organization, out-group, outfit, pace, pack, party, peer group, phalanx, platoon, pod, posse, pride, rank, regiment, salon, school, section, set, shoal, skulk, sloth, soldiers, squad, squadron, stable, step, string, tactical unit, task force, team, train, traipse, tread, tribe, trip, troopers, troupe, unit, wing

Etymology

Attested in English since 1545, from French troupe (back-formation of troupeau, diminutive of Medieval Latin troppus "flock") and Middle French troupe (from Old French trope "band, company, troop"), both of Germanic origin from Frankish *þrop (throp, “assembly, gathering”) from Proto-Germanic *þurpan (“village, land, estate”) from Proto-Germanic *treb- (“dwelling”). Akin to Old English þorp, þrop "village, farm, estate" (Modern English thorp), Old Frisian þorp, Old Norse þorp.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /truːp/
• Rhymes: -uːp

Translations

Noun

collection of people

Catalan: colla (ca) f., tropa (ca) f. Czech: skupina (cs) f.

Finnish: joukko (fi) Swahili: kikosi (sw)

a group of soldiers

Catalan: tropa (ca) f. Finnish: sotajoukko (fi) Portuguese: tropa (pt) f.

Serbo-Croatian: trupa (sh) Swahili: kikosi (sw)

Specifically, a small body of cavalry, light horse, or dragoons, consisting usually of about sixty men, commanded by a captain

Finnish: komppania (fi)

Swahili: kikosi (sw)

a company of horse artillery; a battery

Swahili: vikosi (sw)

A company of stageplayers; a troupe

Catalan: soldats (ca) m. Swahili: kikosi (sw)

A particular roll of the drum

Swahili: vikosi (sw)

unit of girl or boy scouts

Czech: oddíl (cs) m. Finnish: lippukunta

Norwegian: tropp (no) m. and f. Swahili: kikosi (sw)

an orderly crowd

Swahili: kikosi (sw), kikosi (sw)

References

• “Troop” in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.
• “Troop” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001

See also

• Appendix:English collective nouns

Anagrams

• proto