ECHELON


Meaning of ECHELON in English

I. ˈeshəˌlän noun

( -s )

Usage: often attributive

Etymology: French échelon, literally, rung of a ladder, from Old French eschelon, from eschele, eschiele ladder

1.

a. : an arrangement of a body of troops with its units each somewhat to the left or right of the one in the rear like a series of steps ; also : any similar formation of units or individuals

a long echelon of wild geese — H.L.Davis

— often used with in

long staggering line of north canoes turned in echelon — Walter O'Meara

b. : a flight formation in which each airplane flies at a certain elevation above or below and at a certain distance behind and to the right or left of the airplane ahead

c. : one of a number of military units in echelon formation ; also : any military or nonmilitary unit or group of individuals acting or appearing to act in a disciplined, organized, or united manner

the first echelons in an amphibious assault — Aero Digest

2.

a. : a group of individuals having a particular responsibility or occupying a particular level or grade (as of command, authority, or leadership) in an organization, profession, or field of activity

the financial, supply, and training echelons of the European Army — Newsweek

the lower echelons of the bureaucracy

the higher echelons of the Social Register — Alva Johnston

b. : one of a series of levels or grades (as of leadership or responsibility) in an organization or field of activity

permits employees on every echelon to participate in the development of policy

3. : a diffraction grating giving spectra of very high order and dispersion and used mainly in the study of fine structure that consists of a series of plane-parallel glass plates of exactly equal thickness each wider than its neighbor by the same small amount and thus forms a miniature stairway, light normally entering at the widest plate and emerging at the successive risers of the stairway

4. : an arrangement of geologic features (as mountains, folds, fractures) in a pattern resembling that of a military echelon

II. verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

Etymology: French échelonner, from échelon

transitive verb

: to place (as troops or fortifications) in echelon

intransitive verb

: to take position in echelon

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.