Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PHAL'ANX, n. [L.; Gr. φαλαγξ.]

1. In Grecian antiquity, a square battalion or body of soldiers, formed in ranks end files close and deep, with their shields joined and pikes crossing each other, so as to render it almost impossible to break it. The Macedonian phalanx, celebrated for its force, consisted of 8000 men; but smaller bodies of soldiers were called by the same name. – Encyc. Milford.
2. Any body of troops or men formed in close array, or any combination of people distinguished for firmness and solidity of union.
3. In anatomy, the rows of small bones forming the fingers, or the toes.
4. In natural history, a term used to express the arrangement of the columns of a sort of fossil coralloid, called lithostrotion, found in Wales. – Woodward.