Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An officer in command of ten men in the army of ancient Rome.
  • noun A member of a municipal senate in ancient Rome that ran local government.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An officer in the Roman army who commanded a decury, or a body of ten soldiers.
  • noun Any commander or overseer of ten; specifically, a tithing-man.
  • noun In Roman history, a member of the senate of a colony or of a municipality; a town-councilor.
  • noun A member of the great council of an Italian city or town.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Rom. Antiq.) A head or chief over ten; especially, an officer who commanded a division of ten soldiers.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An officer in charge of ten men in the ancient Roman army.
  • noun A member of local government in ancient Rome.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin decuriō, from decuria, group of ten men, administrative body of ten families, from *decu-viria : decem, ten; see dekm̥ in Indo-European roots + vir, man; see wī-ro- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin decuria ("a group of ten")

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word decurion.

Examples

  • Your work officers of your labor legion will select their representative, called a decurion, from among your ranks.

    Draining the Swamps 2008

  • The Jesuits organized each class in subdivisions; each division being headed by an advanced pupil called a decurion, to whom the boys recited their lessons at stated times, while the teacher corrected exercises or heard the lessons of particular pupils.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 8: Infamy-Lapparent 1840-1916 1913

  • All this tends at least to prove that we should read "decurion" for

    Bolougne-Sur-Mer St. Patrick's Native Town William Fleming

  • A manipular tribune cannot be cross posted as a decurion.

    Draining the Swamps 2008

  • A turma of new recruits was being drilled by a frog-throated decurion who seemed capable of cursing in three languages.

    Hadrian's Wall.html Dietrich, William 2004

  • Corio was as rigid in his demands as a Roman decurion.

    The Eternal Mercenary Sadler, Barry 1980

  • While they were doing so, the decurion returned bitching.

    The Eternal Mercenary Sadler, Barry 1980

  • The decurion in charge of the unit cursed at the sweat rolling down his own back and soaking the leather armor surrounding his chest and abdomen.

    The Eternal Mercenary Sadler, Barry 1980

  • He made it part of the way, but after he had fallen a couple of times, the decurion drafted one of the onlookers, a big husky black man, probably a visitor from Cyrene, and put him to carrying the, cross.

    The Eternal Mercenary Sadler, Barry 1980

  • The decurion had six men in his escort squad: two Syrians, a Gaul from Messilia, one member of the Tuetonii tribe of Germans, and two men from the northern Latin provinces.

    The Eternal Mercenary Sadler, Barry 1980

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.