marshal

marshal

See also: Marshal

English

Alternative forms

• marshall (US)
• mareschal (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English marschal, from Anglo-Norman mareschal (“farrier; military commander”), from Medieval Latin mariscalcus (“groom, army commander, court dignitary”), either from Frankish *marhaskalk[1], or Old High German marah-scalc (“horse-servant”)[2], from Proto-Germanic *marhaz + *skalkaz (whence Old Saxon maraskalk, marahscalc). Compare English mare + shalk.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑːʃəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑɹʃəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)ʃəl
• Homophones: Marshall, martial

Noun

marshal (plural marshals)

1. (historical) A high-ranking officer in the household of a medieval prince or lord, who was originally in charge of the cavalry and later the military forces in general.
2. A military officer of the highest rank in several countries, including France and the former Soviet Union; equivalent to a general of the army in the United States. See also field marshal.
   • 1936, H. Hessell Tiltman, The Far East Comes Nearer‎, Jarrolds, page 249:

     Where stands Marshal Chiang Kai-shek in this conflict of opinion concerning the tactics which China should adopt towards the aggressor? Chiang Kai-shek, according to officials who know his mind with whom I have talked, is all for resistance- as soon as he thinks he can win!

3. A person in charge of the ceremonial arrangement and management of a gathering.
4. (US) A federal lawman.

Derived terms

• marshalcy
• marshalship

Descendants

• → Malay: marsyal

Translations

officer in the household of a medieval prince or lord

Bulgarian: церемониалмайстор m (ceremonialmajstor) Chinese: Mandarin: 司令官 (zh), 總管／总管 (zh) Czech: maršál (cs) m Dutch: hofmaarschalk (nl) French: maréchal (fr) German: Marschall (de) m Plautdietsch: Launtsrot m Portuguese: marechal (pt) m Romanian: mareșal (ro) m Russian: ма́ршал (ru) m (máršal) Spanish: mariscal (es) m Tagalog: mariskal

military officer of the highest rank

Arabic: عَقِيْد‎ (ar) (ʿaqiyd) Armenian: մարշալ (hy) (maršal) Old Armenian: մարաջախտ (maraǰaxt) Bulgarian: фелдмаршал m (feldmaršal) Chinese: Mandarin: 元帥／元帅 (zh) (yuánshuài) Czech: maršál (cs) m Dutch: maarschalk (nl) m Esperanto: marŝalo Finnish: marsalkka (fi) French: maréchal (fr) German: Marschall (de) m, Feldmarschall (de) m Indonesian: marsekal (id) Italian: maresciallo (it) m Japanese: 元帥 (ja) (げんすい, gensui) Korean: 원수(元帥) (ko) (wonsu) Macedonian: маршал m (maršal) Malay: marsyal Maori: maihara Norwegian: marskalk m Polish: marszałek (pl) m Portuguese: marechal (pt) m Romanian: mareșal (ro) m Russian: ма́ршал (ru) m (máršal) Slovene: maršal m Sicilian: marisciaḍḍu m Spanish: mariscal (es) m Swedish: marskalk (sv) c Tagalog: mariskal

person in charge of the ceremonial arrangement and management of a gathering

Bulgarian: церемониалмайстор m ( ceremonialmajstor) Chinese: Mandarin: 司儀／司仪 (zh) Dutch: ceremoniemeester (nl) m Finnish: marsalkka (fi), airut (fi) Maori: kaiatoato Polish: organizator (pl) Spanish: mariscal (es) m Swedish: marskalk (sv) c

sheriff’s assistant

Bulgarian: помощник-шериф m (pomoštnik-šerif) French: marshal (fr) Spanish: mariscal (es) m

Verb

marshal (third-person singular simple present marshals, present participle marshalling or marshaling, simple past and past participle marshalled or marshaled)

1. To arrange (troops, etc.) in line for inspection or a parade.
   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎:

     Nothing could be more business-like than the construction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old forest trees marshalled round their margins like a veteran army that had marched down to drink, only to be stricken motionless at the water’s edge.

2. (by extension) To arrange (facts, etc.) in some methodical order.
   • 1963 December, “The fish traffic of Aberdeen”, in Modern Railways, page 389:

     This train is formed only of "Blue Spot" wagons for London; vans for Mac Fisheries Finsbury Park depot are marshalled at the rear to be detached at Finsbury Park.

3. To ceremoniously guide, conduct or usher.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:

     Our conquering ſwords ſhal marſhal vs the way
     UUe vſe to martch vpon the ſlaughtered foe:
     Trampling their bowels with our horſes hoofes: […]

4. To gather data for transmission.
5. (computing, transitive) To serialize an object into a marshalled state represented by a sequence of bytes that can later be converted back into an object with equivalent properties.

Synonyms

• (serialize computing data): serialize, encode

Antonyms

• (serialize computing data):: unmarshal, decode, deserialize, unserialize

Derived terms

• remarshal

Translations

to arrange troops

Bulgarian: строявам (strojavam) Maori: atoato Portuguese: colocar em formação/forma Russian: выстраивать (ru) (vystraivatʹ) Spanish: formar (es)

to arrange facts

Bulgarian: подреждам (bg) (podreždam) Finnish: jäsentää (fi) Polish: porządkować (pl), uporządkować (pl) Portuguese: organizar (pt) Russian: выстраивать (ru) (vystraivatʹ), упорядочивать (ru) (uporjadočivatʹ) Spanish: recopilar (es)

to ceremoniously guide

Finnish: johdattaa (fi), opastaa (fi) Russian: выстраивать (ru) (vystraivatʹ)

to gather data

French: canaliser (fr) Polish: zebrać (pl), zgromadzić (pl), (provisions) zdobyć (pl) Portuguese: empacotar (pt) Spanish: empaquetar (es)

See also

• marshal on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “marshal”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
2. marshal in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Further reading

• “marshal”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “marshal”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “marshal”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
• “marshal” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.