What is "army"

Army \Ar"my\, n. [F. arm['e]e, fr. L. armata, fem. of armatus, p. p. of armare to arm. Cf. Armada.]

1. A collection or body of men armed for war, esp. one organized in companies, battalions, regiments, brigades, and divisions, under proper officers.

2. A body of persons organized for the advancement of a cause; as, the Blue Ribbon Army.

3. A great number; a vast multitude; a host.

   An army of good words.
   --Shak.

   Standing army, a permanent army of professional soldiers, as distinguished from militia or volunteers.

late 14c., "armed expedition," from Old French armée (14c.) "armed troop, armed expedition," from Medieval Latin armata "armed force," from Latin armata, fem. of armatus "armed, equipped, in arms," past participle of armare "to arm," literally "act of arming," related to arma "tools, arms" (see arm (n.2)). Originally used of expeditions on sea or land; the specific meaning "land force" first recorded 1786. Transferred meaning "host, multitude" is c.1500.\n

\nThe Old English words were here (still preserved in derivatives like harrier), from PIE *kor- "people, crowd;" and fierd, with an original sense of "expedition," from faran "travel." In spite of etymology, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, here generally meant "invading Vikings" and fierd was used for the local militias raised to fight them.

n. 1 A large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations. 2 # Used absolutely for that entire branch of the armed forces. 3 # (context often capitalized English) Within a vast military, a very large tactical contingent (e.g. a number of divisions). 4 The governmental agency in charge of a state's army. 5 (context figuratively English) A large group of people working toward the same purpose. 6 (context figuratively English) A large group of social animals working toward the same purpose. 7 (context figuratively English) Any multitude.

1. n. a permanent organization of the military land forces of a nation or state [syn: regular army, ground forces]

2. a large number of people united for some specific purpose

An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine)) or ground force is a fighting force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps. Within a national military force, the word army may also mean a field army. They differ from army reserves who are activated only during such times as war or natural disasters.

In several countries, the army is officially called the Land Army to differentiate it from an air force called the Air Army, notably France. In such countries, the word "army" on its own retains its connotation of a land force in common usage. The current largest army in the world, by number of active troops, is the People's Liberation Army Ground Force of China with 1,600,000 active troops and 510,000 reserve personnel followed by the Indian Army with 1,129,000 active troops and 960,000 reserve personnel.

By convention, irregular military is understood in contrast to regular armies which grew slowly from personal bodyguards or elite militia. Regular in this case refers to standardized doctrines, uniforms, organizations, etc. Regular military can also refer to full-time status ( standing army), versus reserve or part-time personnel. Other distinctions may separate statutory forces (established under laws such as the National Defence Act), from de facto "non-statutory" forces such as some guerrilla and revolutionary armies. Armies may also be expeditionary (designed for overseas or international deployment) or fencible (designed for – or restricted to – homeland defence).

"Army" is an alternative rock song by the band Ben Folds Five from their 1999 album The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner. It reached number 28 on the charts in the UK.

Army (, ) is a 1996 Bollywood action film directed by Raam Shetty. The film stars Sridevi, Shahrukh Khan, Danny Denzongpa amongst others in lead roles. It released on 28 June 1996 and it was a hit at the box office.

Army is the newspaper published for the Australian Army. The paper is produced fortnightly and is uploaded online so that members can access it when deployed overseas.

"Army" is a song by English singer and songwriter Ellie Goulding from her third studio album, Delirium (2015). The song was released on 9 January 2016 as the album's second single.

Army (陸軍 Rikugun) is a 1944 Japanese film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita and starring Chishū Ryū and Kinuyo Tanaka. It is best known for its final scene, which Japanese wartime censors found troubling.

Army tells the story of three generations of a Japanese family and their relationship with the army from the Meiji era through the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Ryu plays the man of the middle generation, Tomohiko, and Tanaka his wife Waka. A large portion of the movie concerns Tomohiko's and Waka's concern that their oldest son Shintaro will be too weak to become a good soldier and their efforts to mold him into one. Other portions of the movie include Tomohiko's own exclusion from fighting during the Russo-Japanese War due to illness, and his later indignation when a friend suggests that Japan could lose a war.

In the wordless final scene of the movie, Shintaro marches off with the army for deployment in the invasion of Manchuria. Tanaka's character runs alongside him tearfully and expresses her anxiety over his well-being. Japanese wartime censors were upset by this scene because Japanese mothers in films were supposed be depicted as being proud to send their sons to battle, and not being at all upset about it. According to film critic Donald Richie, the scene was spared being cut because arguably Tanaka's emotions were caused by her internal conflict between her duty to be happy to send her son off to war and her own selfishness by loving and trying to possess him. Criterion Collection essayist Michael Koresky and others attribute the fact that the script escaped censorship of this scene to the fact that the scene is wordless, and so in the script it merely states "The mother sees the son off at the station.” Koresky attributes the scene's power to purely cinematic elements, i.e., "expressive cutting, the variations in camera distance, Tanaka’s stunning performance."

As a result of the final scene, which according to Richie was called "deplorable and an unnecessary stain on an otherwise fine film," Kinoshita was subjected to enhanced attention from the censors until the end of the war. Reportedly, an army officer stormed into the Shochiku film studio after the film's premiere on November 22, 1944 accusing Kinoshita of treason. He would not be permitted to release another film until after the war ended.

According to author Alexander Jacoby, Army is superficially conformist but the final scene is an expression of Kinoshita's "antimilitarist sentiments." Kinoshita later stated that "I can’t lie to myself in my dramas. I couldn’t direct something that was like shaking hands and saying, ‘Come die.’”