[F. cadre frame (e.g., of a picture), also used in sense ‘l’ensemble des officiers et sous-officiers d’une compagnie’ (Littré), ad. It. quadro:—L. quadrum four-sided thing, square.]
1. A frame, framework; scheme.
1830. Scott, Introd. Lay Last Minstr. This species of cadre, or frame, afterwards afforded the poem its name.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., sec. 5 § 2. 174. It would seem … that no branch of human knowledge should be excluded…. The corrective to the seeming infinity of this cadre is supplied by the old classification of faculties.
2. Mil. a. The permanent establishment forming the framework or skeleton of a regiment, which is filled up by enlistment when required.
1851. Gallenga, Mariotti’s Italy, 243. The number of officers … becomes inadequate to the sudden filling up of their cadres, upon a transition from the peace to the war-footing.
1869. E. Cardwell, in Daily News, 11 June, 2/4. A larger number of battalions, with full cadres, ready to be expanded to any extent in a moment of emergency.
1884. Sat. Rev., 279. The principle of large permanent cadres in lieu of large standing armies.
b. The complement of officers of a regiment; the list or scheme of such officers.
(After the Indian Mutiny, the cadres of Native Regiments which had been disbanded were kept in the Indian Army List for regulating promotions. In the parliamentary discussions about the amalgamation of the Indian with the British Army, the word was in constant use in this sense.)
1864. Daily Tel., 22 Aug., 3/3. All staff corps lieutenant-colonels are to be removed from their cadre on promotion.
1870. Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Oct., 7/2. The regimental cadres, that is, the officers of each regiment.
