troop /tɹuːp/noun 12verb 3forms 3 noun12 •A collection of people; a number; a multitude (in general).That which should accompany old age — / As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends — / I must not look to have. — 1606 •A small unit of cavalry or armour commanded by a captain, corresponding to a platoon or company of infantry. •A detachment of soldiers or police, especially horse artillery, armour, or state troopers. •[in the plural] A group of soldiers; military forces.Ah, knovv you not the Citie fauours them, / And they haue troupes of Souldiers at their beck? — 1591 •A chapter of a national girl or boy scouts organization, consisting of one or more patrols of 6 to 8 youngsters each.Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell (1920), Aids To Scoutmastership, page 6: “It is the Patrol System that makes the Troop, and all Scouting for that matter, a real co-operative effort.” •(nonstandard) A company of actors; a troupe.In order to form the new troop to a greater degree of perfection, the four principal actors were placed in the seminary of the cadets — 1784 •A group of animals. •A group of primates (lemurs, monkeys and apes). •A group of meerkat families living together.troop of meerkats is usually made up of two or three family groups. — 2011 •(nonstandard) An individual soldier or member of a military force; a trooper.One American M48 was slightly grazed and one American troop lightly wounded. — 2018 •A group of mushrooms that are close but not close enough to be called a cluster. •A particular roll of the drum; a quick march. verb3 •To move in numbers; to come or gather in crowds or troops. •To move or march as if in a crowd.The children trooped into the room. •To march on; to go forward in haste. formstrooped · trooping · troops
