. The system by which a country raises, classifies, arranges, and equips its armed land forces. The usual divisions are: (1) A regular or active army, in which soldiers serve continuously with the colors and live in barracks or cantonments when not in the field; (2) the reserves of this army, in which the soldiers, while remaining constantly subject to a call to the colors, live at their homes, being summoned more or less frequently to report for instruction, drill, or maneuvers; and (3) one or more classes of soldiers organized largely for territorial defense, living at home and having only occasional periods of drill and instraction, who are variously called home reserves (as in the table below), second, third, etc., line of defense (the regular army and its reserves ordinarily constituting the first line of defense), territorial forces, or the like. In countries where conscription prevails a soldier is supposed to serve a given number of years. He is usually enrolled first in the regular army, then passes to its reserve, then into the home reserves, to serve until he reaches the age limit. It for any reason he is not enrolled in the regular army, he may begin his service in the army reserves or even the home reserves, but then serves the full number of years or up to the age limit. In equipment the organization of the army is into the three great arms of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, together with more or less numerous other branches, such as engineers, medical corps, etc., besides the staff organizations such as those of the pay and subsistence departments. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. désorganisation. See Disorganize, v. t. ] 1. The act of disorganizing; destruction of system. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being disorganized; as, the disorganization of the body, or of government. [ 1913 Webster ]

The magazine of a pawnbroker in such total disorganization, that the owner can never lay his hands upon any one article at the moment he has occasion for it. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being without organization. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. me`ros part + E. organization. ] Organization in part. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. organisation. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of organizing; the act of arranging in a systematic way for use or action; as, the organization of an army, or of a deliberative body. “The first organization of the general government.” Pickering. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being organized. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is organized; an organized existence; an organism; specif. (Biol.), an arrangement of parts for the performance of the functions necessary to life. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cell may be regarded as the most simple, the most common, and the earliest form of organization. McKendrick. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Specifically: A group of persons associated together for a common purpose and having a set of rules which specify the relations of the individual members to the whole gorup. [ PJC ]

5. The manner in which something is organized; the relations included in an organized state or condition; as, the organization of the department permits ad hoc groups to form. [ PJC ]

What is organization but the connection of parts in and for a whole, so that each part is, at once, end and means? Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. Of or pertaining to organization; as, organizational structure. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The act of reorganizing; a reorganized existence; as, reorganization of the troops. [ 1913 Webster ]