marshal

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.
   • 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!1936, H. Hessell Tiltman, The Far East Comes Nearer, Jarrolds, page 249
3. A person in charge of the ceremonial arrangement and management of a gathering.
4. (US) A federal lawman.
5. An official responsible for signalling track conditions to drivers (through use of flags), extinguishing fires, removing damaged cars from the track, and sometimes providing emergency first aid.

Verb

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

1. To arrange (troops, etc.) in line for inspection or a parade.
   • 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.1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad
   • The Black Stars' defence, marshalled by Jonas Adjetey and Jerome Opoku, stood firm against the Premier League firepower of Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, and Jude Bellingham.2026 June 23, Kweku Zurek, “Black Stars' defensive masterclass frustrates England in World Cup stalemate”, in Graphic Online
2. (broadly) To arrange (facts, etc.) in some methodical order.
   • Within a blue garter inscribed "Great Northern Railway Ireland" is a shield, on which are marshalled the arms of the principal towns in the company's area. The shield is divided quarterly with the arms of Dublin in the first quarter, Londonderry in the second quarter, Enniskillen in the third, and...1956 July, Col. H. C. B. Rogers, “Railway Heraldry”, in Railway Magazine, pages 476-477
   • 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.1963 December, “The fish traffic of Aberdeen”, in Modern Railways, page 389
3. To ceremoniously guide, conduct or usher.
   • Our conquering ſwords ſhal marſhal vs the way
     UUe vſe to martch vpon the ſlaughtered foe:
     Trampling their bowels with our horſes hoofes: […]c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
4. To gather data for transmission.
5. (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, encode

Proper noun capitalized: Marshal

IPA/ˈmɑː(ɹ)ʃəl/

Marshal

1. An English and Scottish status surname from Middle English for someone who was in charge of the horses of a royal household, or an occupational surname for someone who looked after horses, or was responsible for the custody of prisoners.
2. A male given name transferred from the surname, of 19th century and later usage.