array Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an orderly arrangement
    • an array of troops in battle order
  2. noun an impressive display
    • it was a bewildering array of books
    • his tools were in an orderly array on the basement wall
  3. noun especially fine or decorative clothing
    regalia; raiment.
  4. noun an arrangement of aerials spaced to give desired directional characteristics
  5. verb lay out orderly or logically in a line or as if in a line
    range; lay out; set out.
    • lay out the clothes
    • lay out the arguments
  6. verb align oneself with a group or a way of thinking
    align.

WordNet

Ar*ray" noun
Etymology
OE. arai, arrai, OF. arrai, arrei, arroi, order, arrangement, dress, F. arroi; a (L. ad) + OF. rai, rei, roi, order, arrangement, fr. G. or Scand.; cf. Goth. raidjan, garaidjan, to arrange, MHG. gereiten, Icel. reithi rigging, harness; akin to E. ready. Cf. Ready, Greith, Curry.
Definitions
  1. Order; a regular and imposing arrangement; disposition in regular lines; hence, order of battle; as, drawn up in battle array.
    Wedged together in the closest array. Gibbon.
  2. The whole body of persons thus placed in order; an orderly collection; hence, a body of soldiers.
    A gallant array of nobles and cavaliers. Prescott.
  3. An imposing series of things.
    Their long array of sapphire and of gold. Byron.
  4. Dress; garments disposed in order upon the person; rich or beautiful apparel. Dryden.
  5. (Law) (a) A ranking or setting forth in order, by the proper officer, of a jury as impaneled in a cause. (b) The panel itself. (c) The whole body of jurors summoned to attend the court.
Ar*ray" transitive verb
Etymology
OE. araien, arraien, fr. OE. arraier, arreier, arreer, arroier, fr. arrai. See Array, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Arrayed present participle & verbal noun Arraying
Definitions
  1. To place or dispose in order, as troops for battle; to marshal.
    By torch and trumpet fast arrayed, Each horseman drew his battle blade. Campbell.
    These doubts will be arrayed before their minds. Farrar.
  2. To deck or dress; to adorn with dress; to cloth to envelop; -- applied esp. to dress of a splendid kind.
    Pharaoh . . . arrayed him in vestures of fine linen. Gen. xli..
    In gelid caves with horrid gloom arrayed. Trumbull.
  3. (Law) To set in order, as a jury, for the trial of a cause; that is, to call them man by man. Blackstone. Cowell. Tomlins. Syn. -- To draw up; arrange; dispose; set in order.

Webster 1913