array

Pluralarrays

Formsarrays, arraying, arrayed

1. 1
   nounusually singular

   A large collection of things assembled or brought together.

   The museum displayed a dazzling array of ancient artifacts.

   Investors now face a bewildering array of financial products.

   Similarrange, collection, assortment, variety, host

   Note

   Adjectives of abundance cluster around this sense: a dazzling array of choices, Byron's 'long array of sapphire and of gold' in The Corsair (1814). An of-phrase usually follows and names what is gathered. The emphasis falls on quantity and variety rather than order, which separates it from the 'orderly series' meaning. Phil McNulty's 2011 BBC Sport report uses it the same way for 'the array of attacking talent'.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   An orderly series, arrangement, or sequence of things.

   The solar panels were installed in a precise array facing south.

   Stars appeared in a stunning array across the night sky.

   Similararrangement, formation, configuration, pattern, series

   Oppositedisarray, disorder, jumble

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A collection laid out so that it can be viewed in full.

   The gallery presented an array of paintings spanning three centuries.

   The market stall offered an array of fresh vegetables for shoppers to inspect.

   Similardisplay, selection, range, collection, assortment

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A data structure that holds multiple elements of the same type, typically in adjacent memory locations so each can be retrieved by a numeric index.

   The function loops through the array and adds up every value.

   Reaching the tenth element of an array takes the same time as reaching the first.

   Note

   Speed of lookup is the point of this structure. Because the elements sit side by side in memory, the position of any one of them is a simple offset from the start. The thousandth item is reached as quickly as the first. The price comes when the sequence changes: inserting or deleting in the middle means shifting everything that follows.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To set out people or things in order, especially to position troops or forces for action.

   The commander arrayed his forces across the valley at dawn.

   Curators array the exhibits to guide visitors through the story.

   Similardeploy, marshal, arrange, position, order

   Oppositescatter, disperse

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A rectangular arrangement of numbers in rows and columns; a matrix.

   Multiplying the two arrays requires their dimensions to match.

   Each entry in the array corresponds to a particular row and column.

   Similarmatrix, table

   Note

   The rules of matrices come with this sense. Arrays of the same shape add entry by entry, while multiplication runs row by column, so the dimensions have to agree before two arrays can be multiplied. The entries need not be plain numbers. Algebraic expressions can fill the grid just as well, and the same operations apply to them.

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To dress and adorn someone, especially with fine clothing and ornaments.

   The bride was arrayed in white lace and pearls.

   Attendants array the king in his ceremonial robes before the coronation.

   Similardress, clothe, attire, robe, adorn

   Oppositeundress, strip, disrobe

   Note

   The verb most often appears in the passive, followed by in: he was arrayed in his finest robes and jewels. In Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590), a lady 'was arayd' in a long purple pall fretted with gold. Its usual objects are robes, jewels and gold, which is why it sounds ceremonious when it is applied to anything plainer.

8. 8
   noununcountable

   Clothing and ornamentation; fine attire or raiment.

   The king's array glittered with gold thread and gemstones.

   Pilgrims arrived in their finest array for the ceremony.

   Similarattire, finery, regalia, garb, dress

   Note

   Every meaning of array goes back to Anglo-Norman arraier, 'to put in order', and behind that to Germanic words for 'preparation' and 'ready'. Clothing is that readiness worn on the body. The noun usually follows in plus an adjective: Dryden's Emily dresses 'in rich array' in 1700, and the ballad heroine Sovay rides off to meet her love 'in man's array', disguised as a man.

9. 9
   noununcountable

   A regular and imposing arrangement in ordered lines; an order of battle.

   The legions advanced in tight array across the plain.

   The fleet assembled in array before the battle began.

   Similarformation, order, ranks, line

   Oppositedisarray, disorder, confusion

   Note

   The phrase that keeps this sense alive is battle array, usually after drawn up in. Gibbon's troops stand 'wedged together in the closest array', and there the word means a formation, not a group of things. The ranks are the point, not the number of soldiers. The act of setting them out has the 'deploy or marshal' verb.

10. 10
    nouncountable

    A militia; a body of citizens called out for military service.

    The county's array mustered at the river crossing.

    The king summoned the array of three shires to repel the invaders.

    Similarmilitia, levy

    Note

    A word from English military history. The old county levy was raised under a royal commission of array, and the men gathered in this way were themselves called the array. It names citizens summoned to serve, not professional soldiers, so it belongs with militia and levy rather than with army.

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