Link Centre Dictionary

legion

le·gion

US/ˈliː.d͡ʒən/ fairly common us

noun

1.

archaic terms for army

Synonyms
2.

association of ex-servicemen

  • “the American Legion”
3.

a large military unit

  • “the French Foreign Legion”
4.

Origin

Attested (in Middle English, as legioun) around 1200, from Old French legion, from Latin legiō, legionem, from legō (“to gather, collect”); akin to legend, lecture. Doublet of León, which was borrowed from Spanish. Generalized sense of “a large number” is due to an allusive phrase in Mark 5:9, "My name is Legion, for we are many".

Phrases

  • foreign legion

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.