Both Uses of
battalion
in
Moby Dick
- But no sooner did the herd, by some presumed wonderful instinct of the Sperm Whale, become notified of the three keels that were after them,—though as yet a mile in their rear,—than they rallied again, and forming in close ranks and battalions, so that their spouts all looked like flashing lines of stacked bayonets, moved on with redoubled velocity.†
Chpt 85-87
- But as perhaps fifty of these whale-bone whales are harpooned for one cachalot, some philosophers of the forecastle have concluded that this positive havoc has already very seriously diminished their battalions.†
Chpt 103-105 *
Definition:
-
(battalion) a large group of soldiers -- especially an army unit consisting of a headquarters and at least three companies