echelon
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɛʃ.ə.lɒn/
ipa: /ˈeɪ-/
ipa: /ˈɛk.ə.lɒn/
ipa: /ˈɛʃ.əˌlɑn/
Forms: form: echelons
form: échelon
Etymology: Borrowed from French échelon (“rung; echelon”), from échelle (“ladder”) + -on (diminutive suffix). Échelle is derived from Latin scāla (“ladder”), from scandō (“to ascend, climb”), from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump”).
Senses: examples: text: Other important functions performed by the GP [general practitioner] are those of referring patients to other (health) care facilities and acting as contact person for other providers of aid, both for other facilities in first echelon care and with respect to second echelon care (outpatient care and treatment in hospital).
ref: 1987, “Scenario A: The Reference Scenario”, in C. F. Hollander, H. A. Becker, editors, Growing Old in the Future: Scenarios on Health and Ageing 1984–2000: Scenario-report, Commissioned by the Steering Committee on Future Health Scenarios, Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, →DOI, →ISBN, section 2.5.3 (GP Care), page 85:
text: Officials in China are divided into three echelons, or generations. The first echelon joined the Communist Party in the 1920s, soon after the party was founded. […] The second echelon joined the Communist Party before the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The party was then still struggling, and many of the second echelon died during the wars. They were again true patriots. The third echelon joined the Communist Party after the founding of the People's Republic.
ref: 2004, Alfred Kuo-liang Ho, “Deng’s Political Reforms”, in China’s Reforms and Reformers, Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 120:
text: Still in the hood and I still sip tea
When I go in, I'ma go for the win
On point like syringe and it's like that
Living life full of sin, gotta cup full of Hen'
Put my tears in a pen and I write back
Ice pack cause' my heart lost
I'm so cold that I Jack Frost
I'm 'bout be on the upper echelon
Niggas gonna hate on the man that I become
ref: 2018, “Mad I Got It”, performed by Denzel Curry:
glosses: A level or rank in an organization, profession, or society.
examples: text: In an echelon, in which several cyclists are sitting in on one another, each rider takes his turn of about 200 meters at the front before dropping to the rear.
ref: 1972, Journal of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, volume 43, [Washington, D.C.]: American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, →OCLC, page 22, column 2:
text: Cyclists in an echelon take up more room in the traffic lane than they do when riding single or double file.
ref: 1989, Fred Matheny, Bicycling Magazine’s Complete Guide to Riding and Racing Techniques, Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale Press, →ISBN, page 99:
topics: cycling
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A line of riders seeking maximum drafting in a crosswind, resulting in a diagonal line across the road.
examples: text: The troops selected by his Royal Highness for this daring exploit, consisted of the war battalions of the 3d, 6th, and 7th regiments of the Royal Guard, forming the first echelon, […]
ref: 1833 October, “a royalist”, “Sketches of the War of the French in Spain in the Year 1823”, in The United Service Journal and Naval and Military Magazine, part III, number 59, London: Published for Henry Colburn, by Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, →OCLC, page 183:
text: The order in echelons is favorable for attack, because it readily conforms to the nature of the ground, and does not necessitate engaging more than a part of the forces; it is adopted for the purpose of attacking a particular point of the enemy's line.
ref: 1863, Ed. [Édouard] De La Barre Duparcq, “Infantry Formation and Tactics”, in George W[ashington] Cullum, transl., Elements of Military Art and History: Comprising the History and Tactics of the Separate Arms; the Combination of the Arms; and the Minor Operations of War, New York, N.Y.: D[avid] Van Nostrand, 192 Broadway, page 84:
text: As soon as the infantry had replenished their ammunition, they wheeled to the left in échelon of brigades, and began to march towards Surgham ridge. The movements of a great force are slow. It was not desirable that the British division, which led the échelon, should remain in the low ground north of Surgham—where it was commanded, had no field of fire, and could see nothing—and accordingly both these brigades moved forward almost together to occupy the crest of the ridge.
ref: 1899, Winston Spencer Churchill, “The Battle of Omdurman: September 2, 1898”, in F[rancis] Rhodes, editor, The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan [...] In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 89 Paternoster Row, →OCLC, pages 145–146:
text: “The first echelon of the Russian force was stuck without heat, without oil, without bombs and without gas. And it all happened because of the work of 30 people,” Honchar said.
ref: 2022 March 28, Julian Borger, quoting Yaroslav Honchar, “The drone operators who halted Russian convoy headed for Kyiv”, in The Guardian:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: A formation of troops, ships, aircraft, etc., in diagonal parallel rows.
Derived terms: echelon form
echelonic
echelon lens
echelonment
echelon parking
multiechelon
rear echelon
Related terms: en echelon
chevron