legion

adj

Etymology: Attested (in Middle English, as legioun) around 1200, from Old French legion, from Latin legiō, legionem, from legō (“to gather, collect”); akin to legend, lecture. Doublet of León, which was borrowed from Spanish. Generalized sense of “a large number” is due to an allusive phrase in Mark 5:9, "My name is Legion, for we are many".

1. Numerous; vast; very great in number.

   “Russia’s labor and capital resources are woefully inadequate to overcome the state’s needs and vulnerabilities, which are legion.”

   “dissatisfied customers and their legion complaints”

name

1. Ellipsis of American Legion.

noun

Etymology: Attested (in Middle English, as legioun) around 1200, from Old French legion, from Latin legiō, legionem, from legō (“to gather, collect”); akin to legend, lecture. Doublet of León, which was borrowed from Spanish. Generalized sense of “a large number” is due to an allusive phrase in Mark 5:9, "My name is Legion, for we are many".

1. The major unit or division of the Roman army, usually comprising 3000 to 6000 infantry soldiers and 100 to 200 cavalry troops.
2. A combined arms major military unit featuring cavalry, infantry, and artillery, including historical units such as the British Legion, and present-day units such as the Spanish Legion and the French Foreign Legion.
3. A large military or semi-military unit trained for combat; any military force; an army, regiment; an armed, organized and assembled militia.

   “Efforts to unionize were routinely met with clubbings, shootings, jailings, blacklistings and executions, perpetrated not only by well-armed legions of company goons, but also by police officers, deputies, National Guardsmen and even regular soldiers.”

4. A national organization or association of former servicemen, such as the American Legion.
5. A large number of people; a multitude.

   “With all due respect to Aaron, every era seems to have had its legion of wrongdoers and shortcutters who used whatever science was available to get an edge.”

6. A great number.

   “where one Sin has entered, Legions will force their Way through the fame Breach.”

   “Afternoon TV mainstays like Leila Benitez and Bobby Ledesma of Darigold Jamboree gradually gave way to teenage loveteams Vi and Bot and Guy and Pip who had legions of fans watching their shows and movies and listening to their records.”

7. A group of orders inferior to a class; in scientific classification, a term occasionally used to express an assemblage of objects intermediate between an order and a class.

verb

Etymology: Attested (in Middle English, as legioun) around 1200, from Old French legion, from Latin legiō, legionem, from legō (“to gather, collect”); akin to legend, lecture. Doublet of León, which was borrowed from Spanish. Generalized sense of “a large number” is due to an allusive phrase in Mark 5:9, "My name is Legion, for we are many".

1. To form into legions.