marches

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of march.

   Each morning the regiment marches across the parade ground in tight formation.

   He marches in protest whenever the council raises the rent.

   Note

   Most often it takes no object, as when the regiment marches. It can also take one when someone is made to walk: a sergeant marches recruits, a guard marches a prisoner out. Figuratively, whatever makes steady progress marches. Without an object it can also mean that one territory shares a frontier with another, the same border idea that lives in the plural noun's border marches.

   The sergeant marches the recruits back to the barracks.

   The guard marches him out of the courtroom.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of march.

   The composer wrote two famous marches for the brass band.

   Civil rights marches drew thousands of people to the capital.

   Note

   One spelling gathers very different things: rhythmic walks, political rallies, pieces of music written for marching, and even the feat of taking every trick in a hand of cards. Context sorts them out. Two marches for brass band are compositions, and civil rights marches are rallies. Where people settle in the border marches, the word names frontier land, close kin to the verb's meaning of sharing a border.

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