əˈnabəsə̇s noun
Etymology: Greek, act of going up, expedition up from the coast into Asia, increasing period of a disease, from anabainein to go up, to go up from the coast — more at anabaena
1. plural anaba·ses -əˌsēz : a going or marching up : advance
anabasis or slump — Wallace Stevens
especially : a military advance
the Russian anabasis and katabasis of Napoleon — Thomas De Quincey
2. capitalized
[New Latin, from Latin, a plant, from Greek]
: a genus of small woody or herbaceous perennials (family Chenopodiaceae) native to the Caucasus and nearby regions and having jointed stems and opposite fleshy often reduced leaves
3. plural anabases
[so called from the fact that a famous retreat of Greek mercenaries from the Euphrates to the Black sea is described in the Anabasis, historical work by Xenophon died ab 355 B.C. Greek historian & essayist]
: a difficult and dangerous military retreat