different between troop vs number

English

Etymology

Attested in English since 1545, from French troupe (back-formation of troupeau, diminutive of Medieval Latin troppus "flock") and Middle French trouppe (from Old French trope (“band, company, troop”)), both of Germanic origin from Frankish *thorp (“assembly, gathering”), from Proto-Germanic *þurp? (“village, land, estate”), from Proto-Indo-European *treb- (“dwelling, settlement”). Doublet of troupe, and possibly also of thorp and dorp.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /t?u?p/
• (US) IPA^(key): /t?up/
• Rhymes: -u?p
• Homophone: troupe

Noun

troop (plural troops)

1. (collective) A collection of people; a number; a multitude (in general).
2. (military) A small unit of cavalry or armour commanded by a captain, corresponding to a platoon or company of infantry.
3. A detachment of soldiers or police, especially horse artillery, armour, or state troopers.
4. (chiefly in the plural) A group of soldiers; military forces.
5. (nonstandard) A company of actors; a troupe.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of W. Coxe to this entry?)

6. (Scouting) A chapter of a national girl or boy scouts organization, consisting of one or more patrols of 6 to 8 youngsters each.
   • Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell (1920) Aids To Scoutmastership?^[1], page 6: “It is the Patrol System that makes the Troop, and all Scouting for that matter, a real co-operative effort.”
7. (collective) A group of baboons.
8. A particular roll of the drum; a quick march.
9. (mycology) Mushrooms that are in a close group but not close enough to be called a cluster.

Derived terms

• troop carrier
• trooper
• troop horse
• troopship
• troop train

Translations

Verb

troop (third-person singular simple present troops, present participle trooping, simple past and past participle trooped)

1. To move in numbers; to come or gather in crowds or troops.
2. To march on; to go forward in haste.
3. To move or march as if in a crowd.

Derived terms

• troop the colour (British, military)

Translations

See also

• Appendix:English collective nouns

References

• “troop” in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “troop”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• Porto, Proto, porto, porto-, proot, proto, proto-, tropo, tropo-

Dutch

Pronunciation

Noun

troop f (plural tropen, diminutive troopje n)

1. (music, literature, linguistics) trope

English

Alternative forms

• nummer (dialectal)
• numbre (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English number, nombre, numbre, noumbre, from Anglo-Norman noumbre, Old French nombre, from Latin numerus (“number”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to divide”). Compare Saterland Frisian Nummer, Nuumer, West Frisian nûmer, Dutch nummer (“number”), German Nummer (“number”), Danish nummer (“number”), Swedish nummer (“number”), Icelandic númer (“number”). Replaced Middle English ?etæl and rime, more at tell, tale and rhyme.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: n?m?b?r, IPA^(key): /?n?mb?/
• (General American) enPR: n?m?b?r, IPA^(key): /?n?mb?/
• Rhymes: -?mb?(?)
• Hyphenation: num?ber

Noun

number (plural numbers)

1. (countable) An abstract entity used to describe quantity.

2. (countable) A numeral: a symbol for a non-negative integer.

   Synonyms: scalar, (obsolete) rime

3. (countable, mathematics) An element of one of several sets: natural numbers, integers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers, and sometimes extensions such as hypercomplex numbers, etc.

4. (Followed by a numeral; used attributively) Indicating the position of something in a list or sequence. Abbreviations: No or No., no or no. (in each case, sometimes written with a superscript "o", like Nº or ?). The symbol "#" is also used in this manner.

5. Quantity.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates

     Number itself importeth not much in armies where the people are of weak courage.

6. A sequence of digits and letters used to register people, automobiles, and various other items.

7. (countable, informal) A telephone number.
   • 2001, E. Forrest Hein, The Ruach Project, Xulon Press, page 86:

     “[...] I wonder if you could get hold of him and have him call me here at Interior. I’m in my office, do you have my number?”

   • 2007, Lindsey Nicole Isham, No Sex in the City: One Virgin's Confessions on Love, Lust, Dating, and Waiting, Kregel Publications, page 111:

     When I agreed to go surfing with him he said, “Great, can I have your number?” Well, I don’t give my number to guys I don’t know.

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Marsha's work number is 555-8986.

8. (grammar) Of a word or phrase, the state of being singular, dual or plural, shown by inflection.

   Synonym: numeral

9. (now rare, in the plural) Poetic metres; verses, rhymes.
10. (countable) A performance; especially, a single song or song and dance routine within a larger show.

11. (countable, informal) A person.
    • 1968, Janet Burroway, The dancer from the dance: a novel, Little, Brown, page 40:

      I laughed. "Don't doubt that. She's a saucy little number."

    • 1988, Erica Jong, Serenissima, Dell, page 214:

      "Signorina Jessica," says the maid, a saucy little number, "your father has gone to his prayers and demands that you come to the synagogue at once [...]"

    • 2005, Denise A. Agnew, Kate Hill & Arianna Hart, By Honor Bound, Ellora's Cave Publishing, page 207:

      He had to focus on the mission, staying alive and getting out, not on the sexy number rubbing up against him.

12. (countable, informal) An item of clothing, particularly a stylish one.
    • 2007, Cesca Martin, Agony Angel: So You Think You've Got Problems..., Troubador Publishing Ltd, page 134:

      The trouble was I was wearing my backless glittering number from the night before underneath, so unless I could persuade the office it was National Fancy Dress Day I was doomed to sweat profusely in bottle blue.

    • 2007, Lorelei James, Running with the Devil, Samhain Publishing, Ltd, page 46:

      "I doubt the sexy number you wore earlier tonight fell from the sky."

13. (slang, chiefly US) A marijuana cigarette, or joint; also, a quantity of marijuana bought form a dealer.
    • 2009, Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice, Vintage 2010, page 12:

      Back at his place again, Doc rolled a number, put on a late movie, found an old T-shirt, and sat tearing it up into short strips […]

14. (dated) An issue of a periodical publication.

    the latest number of a magazine

15. A large amount, in contrast to a smaller amount; numerical preponderance.
    • 1980, May 10, Al King "Braves travel to New England with reputation", The Indiana Gazette

      Despite last week's woes, the Braves still sport numbers that would make Christie Brinkley blush.

16. (informal, always indefinite) A large amount of damage

    • (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Translations

Verb

number (third-person singular simple present numbers, present participle numbering, simple past and past participle numbered)

1. (transitive) To label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items).

   Number the baskets so that we can find them easily.

2. (intransitive) To total or count; to amount to.

   I don’t know how many books are in the library, but they must number in the thousands.

See also

• (grammatical numbers): singular, dual, trial, quadral, paucal, plural

References

• number on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Derived terms

• number among

Translations

See also

• Wiktionary’s Appendix of numbers

Etymology 2

From numb + -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: n?m'?, IPA^(key): /?n?m?/
• (US): enPR: n?m'?r, IPA^(key): /?n?m?/
• Hyphenation: num?ber

Adjective

number

1. comparative form of numb: more numb

Anagrams

• numbre, renumb

Estonian

Etymology

From German Nummer. The added -b- is analoguous to kamber and klamber.

Noun

number (genitive numbri, partitive numbrit)

1. number

Declension

Middle English

Noun

number

1. Alternative form of nombre

Papiamentu

Etymology

From English number.

An analogy of the Papiamentu word nòmber "name".

Noun

number

1. number