noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A compact body of troops forming a battle array or phalanx, especially such a body of Scottish troops armed with pikes during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
Topics: government, military, politics, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
PIE word *dóru From Middle English scheltroun, sheltroun (“group of soldiers or army in fighting formation, phalanx; battle, fighting; group of warships, fleet; (by extension) line or row of bones”) [and other forms], from Old English sċieldtruma (“company of soldiers, phalanx; covering; shed, shelter; tortoise”) [and other forms], from sċield (“shield; (figuratively) protection”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut; to separate, split”)) + truma (“band or troop of men”) (possibly from trum (“firm, strong; stable, steadfast”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *drew- (“firm, hard, solid; strong; tree”), *dóru (“tree”)). Doublet of shelter (which is the less conservative of the two).
Across languages
Translations
5 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Polish:
schiltron
— any compact body of troops forming a battle array or phalanx
Russian:
шилтрон
(šiltron)
— any compact body of troops forming a battle array or phalanx
Slovak:
šiltron
— any compact body of troops forming a battle array or phalanx
Spanish:
testudo
— any compact body of troops forming a battle array or phalanx
Ukrainian:
шилтрон
(šyltron)
— any compact body of troops forming a battle array or phalanx