legion

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. Generalized sense of “a large number” is due to an allusive phrase in Mark 5:9, "my name is Legion: for we are many" (KJV).

adj

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
   Shepard: Where are the rest of the Reapers? Are you the last of your kind? We are legion. The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world. You cannot escape your doom. 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Saren's private lab, Virmire

noun

1. (military, Ancient Rome) The major unit or division of the Roman army, usually comprising 3000 to 6000 infantry soldiers and 100 to 200 cavalry troops.
   Meronyms: cohort, maniple, century
2. (military) 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. (military) A large military or semi-military unit trained for combat; any military force; an army, regiment; an armed, organized and assembled militia.
4. (often Legion or the Legion) A national organization or association of former servicemen, such as the American Legion.
5. A large number of people; a multitude.
6. (often plural) A great number.
   where one Sin has entered, Legions will force their Way through the fame Breach. 1735, John Rogers (Canon of Wells.), “Sermon XV. Universal Obedience to the Laws of God, the indispensable Obligation of Christians”, in Nineteen Sermons on several occasions
   Legions of lawyers make use of codes and loopholes like the EB-5 program in the United States, whereby anyone who invests $500,000 to $1 million can gain a visa; […] 2019-05-28, Zachary Karabell, “How Hidden Billions Are Making the Rich Richer”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
7. (dated, taxonomy) 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

1. (transitive) To form into legions.