/koh"hawrt/ , n.
1. a group or company: She has a cohort of admirers.
2. a companion or associate.
3. one of the ten divisions in an ancient Roman legion, numbering from 300 to 600 soldiers.
4. any group of soldiers or warriors.
5. an accomplice; abettor: He got off with probation, but his cohorts got ten years apiece.
6. a group of persons sharing a particular statistical or demographic characteristic: the cohort of all children born in 1980.
7. Biol. an individual in a population of the same species.
[ 1475-85; cohorte cohort- (s. of cohors ) farmyard, armed force (orig. from a particular place or camp), cohort, retinue, equiv. to co- CO- + hort- (akin to hortus garden); r. late ME cohors ]
Syn. 2. friend, comrade, fellow, chum, pal, buddy.
Usage . A COHORT was originally one of the ten divisions of a legion in the Roman army, containing from 300 to 600 men. The most common use of COHORT today is in the sense "group" or "company": A cohort of hangers-on followed the singer down the corridor. In a development emphasizing the idea of companionship, COHORT has also come to mean a single companion, associate, or the like: The senator strode into the room followed by his faithful cohort, his son-in-law.