Etymology From (1386) Middle English armee, borrowed from Old French armee (cf. modern French armée), from Medieval Latin armāta (“armed force”), a noun taken from the past participle of Latin armāre (“to arm”), itself related to arma (“tools, arms”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to join, fit together”). Doublet of armada. Displaced native Old English here and fierd.
A large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations.
An army never can be commanded or controlled by civilians.1858, Prince George, letter to Sir Colin Campbell
The army was sent in to quell the uprising.
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This taut, soldierly, professional story is something of a stranger among American novels about war making. Angry civilians have writ ten most of the best fiction on the subject, from “Three Soldiers” through “Catch‐22,” to make the point (with a good deal of literary overkill) that wars are mass insanity and that armies are madhouses.1970 September 13, Robie MacAuley, “The Army as one of life's awful necessities”, in The New York Times:
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Used absolutely for that entire branch of the armed forces.
The army received a bigger share of this year's budget increase than the navy or air force.
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Capitalized, Often Within a vast military, a very large tactical contingent (e.g. a number of divisions).
The Fourth Army suffered such losses that its remainders were merged into the Second Army, also deployed on the Western front.
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The governmental agency in charge of a state's army.
The army opposed the legislature's involvement.
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Figuratively A large group of people working toward the same purpose.
It took an army of accountants to uncover the fraud.
On sunny days the beaches draw armies of tourists of all kinds.
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Mr. Tenev, 33, is now in the hot seat again after Robinhood abruptly curtailed its customers’ trading last week amid a frenzy in stocks such as GameStop, which were driven sky high by an army of online investors.2021 February 2, Nathaniel Popper, Kellen Browning, Erin Griffith, “Robinhood’s C.E.O. Is in the Hot Seat”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
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Figuratively A large group of social animals working toward the same purpose.
Etymology From an acronym/backronym based on army ("Adorable Representative for MC Youth"), suggesting a large, devoted fanbase.
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LifestyleSlang The fandom of the K-pop boy band BTS.
ARMY are clever, too: they urged fans not to buy J-Hope's mixtape Hope World on its release date, having worked out that delaying by a day would result in a higher ranking in the Billboard charts.2018, Adrian Besley, BTS: Icons of K-Pop, page 170:
In this manner, ARMY gives charity in the name of BTS, and BTS responds by returning charity back to society in the name of ARMY.2019, Jeeheng Lee, BTS and ARMY Culture, page 163:
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The BTS boys love telling ARMY how important they are to them—without ARMY's unwavering love and support, BTS wouldn't be where they are today.2020, Becca Wright, The Unofficial BTS Fan Book: For the Bangtan ARMY, page 25:
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LifestyleSlang An individual fan of the K-pop boy band BTS.
Entering the theater, I expected the room to be filled with ARMYs decked out in their BTS merchandise.2018 December, Ashley Chen, “BTS film rallies a large army”, in The Union, page 13:
It began when an ARMY tweeted something along the lines of: “If there are so many of us everywhere in the world, shouldn't we make a change and help people?”2019, Jeeheng Lee, BTS and ARMY Culture, page 160:
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As of this writing, the Philippines is not included in the tour but Filipino ARMYs are hoping the group will eventually perform in Manila for a fourth time.2020 February 2, Rachel Anne Macarandang, “BTS To The World”, in BusinessMirror, page 4: