Forms: 6 trowp, (troppe), 6–7 troup, trowpe, troope, 6–8 troupe, (7 trope), 6– troop. [a. OF. trope (13th c.), F. troupe (16th c.), = Prov. trop, Sp., Pg. tropa, It. truppa, prob.:—late L. troppus ‘flock,’ of which the ulterior origin is uncertain.]
1. a. A body of soldiers.
1545. Lisle in St. Papers Hen. VIII., I. 829. Your enymyes …. assemblyd more and more in gret troupes.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, III. i. 42. Your Musketiers being deuided into sundrie troupes, of 30, 40. or 50 in a troupe.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 527. Amid the thickest troupes of his enemies in the battaile of Agincourt.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xv. The travellers frequently distinguished troops of soldiers moving at a distance.
1838. Lytton, Leila, II. ii. In this troop … rode many of the best blood of Spain.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, III. vii. Esmond perfectly well remembered seeing the old lady sitting up in the bed … that morning when the troop of guard came to fetch her.
b. A number of persons (or things) collected together; a party, company, band.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., X. ix. (1886), 150. I marvell againe, that no bodie else heareth nor seeth this troope of minstrels.
1601. ? Marston, Pasquil & Kath., II. 95. The glooming morne … hath … forc’d the sacred troupes of sparkling stars into their priuate Tents.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 42. Liuing in wandring troupes according to the Scythian Nomades.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 130, ¶ 1. We saw at a little Distance … a Troop of Gipsies.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Manch. Strike, i. 1. The children dispersed in troops.
c. Of animals: A herd, flock, swarm.
1587. Mascall, Govt. Cattle (1596), 237. Fold for sheepe…. Make your pennes … in some drie ground, and make also partitions thereinto to receiue small troups of forty or moe.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, IV. xxxiii. 299. In Peru there is such store of pastures and feedings, as … every man feedes his troupes where he pleaseth.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. xx. 358. We perceived two or three troops of wolves.
1812. Cary, Dante, Parad., XXXI. 6. A troop of bees.
1820. Mollien, in Caledonian Mercury, 27 March, 4/2. A woman going with millet and milk to a vessel from St Louis, which had stopped before a village in the country of Galam, was attacked by a troop of apes, from three to four feet high.
1847. Tennyson, Princ., IV. 150. As flies A troop of snowy doves athwart the dusk.
d. Used to indicate a great number; a ‘lot’; esp. in pl. ‘flocks,’ ‘swarms.’
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., V. i. 81. A huge infectious troope Of pale distemperatures, and foes to life.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., IX. (S.T.S.), II. 193. Our folkis, in hope to obteine the hous, in troupis rinis to, bot agane ar dung doune.
1605. Shaks., Macb., V. iii. 25. That which should accompany Old-Age, As Honor, Loue, Obedience, Troopes of Friends.
1658. Whole Duty Man, xvii. § 18. We find this sin of self-love set by the Apostle in the head of a whole troop of sins.
1794. Ld. Auckland, Corr. (1862), III. 198. Lady Auckland and the troop are all in perfect health.
1881. Besant & Rice, Chapl. of Fleet, II. i. (1883), 120. There is no time, for a woman, like the time when she … is courted by a troop of lovers.
† e. A company of performers: = TROUPE.
1779. Sheridan, Critic, I. i. Your first inquiry would be, whether they had brought a theatrical troop with them.
1835. T. Mitchell, Acharn. of Aristoph., 1043, note. This prize-feast is … a frequent source of encouragement to his orchestral troop.
2. pl. Armed forces collectively. Also fig.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, 136. Fraunce and Flanders, too full of his pencionary troupes.
1605. Shaks., Lear, IV. v. 16. Our troopes set forth to morrow.
1671. Lady M. Bertie, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 22. My brother Peregrine and all the troopes are to show in Hide Parke beefore the Prince of Orange.
1732. Lediard, Sethos, II. VIII. 143. Certain sums of money to raise troops.
1835. T. Mitchell, Acharn. of Aristoph., Introd. p. xvii. It was a war of native and self-paid troops against troops foreign and purchased.
1854. Cobden, Speeches (1878), 319. The courage displayed by our troops.
3. Mil. spec. A subdivision of a cavalry regiment commanded by a captain, corresponding to a company of foot and a battery of artillery.
1590. Sir J. Smyth, Disc. Weapons, Ded. 5 b. Souldiors … disordering themselues vpon euery light occasion both in battallion, squadron and troupe.
1641. Evelyn, Diary, 12 Sept. Here were now 16 companies and 9 tropes of horse.
1703. Marlborough, Lett. & Disp. (1845), I. 117. Lord Raby’s regiment of dragoons … is of eight troops.
1832. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, III. 45. Troop—The half of a Squadron. Troops are called Right and Left in each Squadron.
b. The command of a troop.
1813. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. (1838), XI. 187. Just at this moment there is a troop vacant for purchase in the regiment of Life Guards.
1842. Thackeray, Fitz-B. Pap., Pref. (1887), 14. His papa would have purchased him a troop—nay, a lieutenant-colonelcy—some day, but for his fatal excesses.
4. Mil. A signal on the drum for troops to assemble in readiness for marching; the assembly. (Cf. quot. 1667 in TROOP v. 1.)
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. xix. (Roxb.), 153/2. The drumer is to beat all maner of beats, as a Call, a Troope, a March, a Preparative.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), s.v., The Troop, which is the second beat of the Drum, for the Men to repair to their Colours.
1803. Instruct. Infantry (ed. 3), 13. The Music plays the Troop.
1845. S. Judd, Margaret, I. xiii. Tony’s beat of the troop was the signal for the soldiers to assemble.
5. attrib. and Comb.: in sense 2, as troop-boat, column, -ship, -steamer, -traffic, -train, -transport; in sense 3, as troop-gelding, -leader (cf. LEADER1 6), -leading, -orderly, sergeant (-major), -stable; also troop-lined, -thronged adjs.; troop-bird (U.S.), a troopial (Worcester, 1860, citing Gray); troop-boot (U.S.), a cavalry boot; troop-fowl (local U.S.), a scaup-duck; troop-horse, (a) a cavalry horse; † (b) collectively, horsemen for a troop.
1816. in Century Mag., LIX. 623/1. He had taken ten gun-boats from the Neapolitans, and several *troop-boats.
1885. E. Custer, Boots & Saddles, x. 107. The general … wore *troop-boots reaching to his knees.
1702. Lond. Gaz., No. 3790/8. A bright-bay *Troop-Gelding 15 hands and half high.
1640. Bk. War Comm. Covenanters, 1. The Committie ordaines, that, the *troupe horss to be leviat furth of the Stewartrie for the service of the publict.
1856. Lever, Martins of Cro’ M., xxxvi. The sound of troop-horses passaging to and fro … now interrupted the colloquy.
1832. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, II. 29. The *Troop Leaders are to be on the pivot flank.
1889. Pall Mall G., 3 July, 4/3. The procession followed the *troop-lined route.
1896. Westm. Gaz., 10 March, 5/3. He was *troop-orderly that day.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. xviii. (Roxb.), 134/1. The *Troup, or Holster pistall, this is longer then the fore said [girdle pistol] by as much againe.
1838. Jas. Grant, Sk. Lond., 92. The Troopers … being allowed … to call for as much tobacco, technically termed *‘Troop-sand,’ as they could consume at the sitting.
1853. Stocqueler, Milit. Encycl., s.v. Serjeant-Major, A *Troop Sergeant-major receives 3s. [per day].
1889. W. S. Gilbert, Foggerty’s Fairy, etc. (1892), 108. He was now troop-sergeant, and one of the smartest men in the squadron.
1862. Thackeray, Philip, xvi. I certainly did suffer most cruelly on board that horrible *troop-ship.
1855. Whyte-Melville, Gen. Bounce, xx. Their task consisted of lounging about a *troop-stable, attired in undress uniform, to watch the men cleaning and ‘doing up’ their respective horses.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., II. XII. 13. Model of Government *troop steamer for the Lower Indus.
1893. Gosse, Questions at Issue, 270. The breaking-out of cholera in a *troop-train.
