British Dictionary definitions for velites

velites

pl n

light-armed troops in ancient Rome, drawn from the poorer classes

Word Origin

C17: from Latin, pl of vēles light-armed foot soldier; related to volāre to fly

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Examples from the Web for velites

Historical Examples

It was the corps of the Roman velites who did them most harm.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 348
Various
The vallum is lined by the velites, who are on guard all along it from day to day.
The Histories of Polybius, Vol. I (of 2)
Polybius
Did I not win a musket of honour among the Velites of the Guard?
The Adventures of Gerard
Arthur Conan Doyle
To avoid infection, the corpses of the velites had been speedily buried; and the position of the graves was no longer visible.
Salammbo
Gustave Flaubert
The Iberians having at once made an onslaught upon the cattle, he despatched some of the velites against them.
The Histories of Polybius, Vol. II (of 2)
Polybius

velites

Word Origin

Examples from the Web for velites

Historical Examples

It was the corps of the Roman velites who did them most harm.

The vallum is lined by the velites, who are on guard all along it from day to day.

Did I not win a musket of honour among the Velites of the Guard?

To avoid infection, the corpses of the velites had been speedily buried; and the position of the graves was no longer visible.

The Iberians having at once made an onslaught upon the cattle, he despatched some of the velites against them.