# march

Pronunciation: US say "MAHRCH" /mɑɹt͡ʃ/; UK say "MAHCH" /mɑːtʃ/

## Proper noun · March

1. The third month of the Gregorian calendar, between February and April, in which the northward equinox falls.
   - Simple: The third month of the year, coming after February and before April.
   - _The new law takes effect on March 1._
   - _Clocks in most of the United States move forward an hour in March._

## Verb

2. To walk with long, regular strides, as soldiers do, or to advance in this way as an armed force.
   - Simple: To walk with steady, even steps like a soldier, or to move forward as an army.
   - _Recruits learn to march in step during their first week of training._
   - _The honor guard marched in single file past the coffin._
6. To make steady progress, moving forward at an even, unbroken pace.
   - Simple: To keep moving ahead in a steady way.
   - _Technology marches on, and last year's phone already feels slow._
   - _Despite the setbacks, the project continues to march toward completion._
7. To make someone walk to a particular place.
   - Simple: To make a person walk somewhere.
   - _Security guards marched the protester out of the building._
   - _The coach likes to march the whole team up the hill before practice._
9. Of countries, estates, or regions, to adjoin one another and share a border.
   - Simple: To be next to another place and share a border with it.
   - _Where the county marches with Wales, the hills grow steeper._
   - _Their lands march together for miles, divided only by a hedge._

## Noun

3. A political parade or rally, often held as a protest.
   - Simple: A large group of people walking together to support or protest a political cause.
   - _Organizers expect more than fifty thousand people at Saturday's march on the state capitol._
   - _She took part in civil rights marches across the South as a young woman._
4. A formal, rhythmic way of walking, or a journey made on foot in this way, especially by soldiers or people in a ceremony.
   - Simple: A way of walking with steady, regular steps, or a long walk made like this, especially by soldiers.
   - _The pallbearers carried the coffin up the aisle at a slow, solemn march._
   - _Drill sergeants spend weeks teaching recruits a crisp, even march._
5. Steady, continuous forward movement or progression.
   - Simple: Steady movement or progress forward that keeps going.
   - _The relentless march of automation has transformed factory work._
   - _Historians trace the slow march of democracy across the region._
8. A piece of music with a strong, regular beat, composed to accompany marching.
   - Simple: A song or tune made for people to march to.
   - _The orchestra closed the Fourth of July concert with a rousing march._
   - _The composer wrote more than a hundred marches for military bands._

## Noun

10. A border region, especially one originally established to defend a frontier. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: An area of land along a border, especially one set up long ago to guard it.
   - _Each march was held by a lord whose first duty was to defend the frontier._
   - _Raids across the marches kept the border garrisons busy for generations._
11. Smallage, a wild form of celery. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A wild kind of celery plant.

## Other meanings

- (proper noun) A family name of medieval English origin, first given either to a person whose birthday fell in the third month or to one who dwelt by a frontier.
- (noun) The feat of winning all the tricks in a single hand of euchre.
- (proper noun) A market town in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, in eastern England.

## Origin

**Meanings 2–8** — Proto-Germanic *markōną ("to mark") gave Frankish *markōn ("to mark out, to press with the foot"), which became Old French marchier ("to stride, to trample") and Middle French marcher ("to march, walk"). English took it as Middle English marchen. Old English mearc ("mark, boundary") and the English word mark are related.
**Meanings 9–10** — The Proto-Indo-European root *mórǵs ("boundary, edge") passed through Proto-Germanic *markō and Frankish *marku into Old French marche ("boundary, frontier"). Middle English borrowed it as marche, meaning land along a country's border.
**Meaning 11** — From Middle English merche, from Old English merċe, from Proto-West Germanic *marik, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *móri ("sea"). It is related to Middle Low German merk, Old High German merc and Old Norse merki ("celery").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/march (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).