Peloton

Origin

From French peloton, pellet.

Full definition of peloton

Noun

1. (military) A platoon.
• 1840, Colonel R. W. H. Howard Vyse, Some Account of the Composition and Force of the Egyptian Army, in The United Service Journal and Naval and Military Magazine, 1840, Part III, The United Service Journal, page 307,A regiment of cavalry consists of six squadrons, each squadron of four pelotons, each peloton of two companies, each company of two escouardes, and each escouarde of two men.
• 1864, Richard Francis Burton, , Chapter III,Then the chief of each peloton came forward, snapped fingers with us as we sat on our chairs under the tree, our guards ranged on the right, a mob of gazers women scratching and boys pulling on the left, and an open space in front.
• 2002, Hannes Heer, Heer Naumann, Klaus Naumann, War of Extermination: The German Military in World War II, page 232,In Bauske, on 2 July, the local commandant had twenty hostages publicly shot at the Memel bridge by a peloton supplied by the local headquarters, allegedly in "reprisal" for the German soldiers who had fallen in the battles for the town.
2. (cycling) The main group of riders formed during a cycling road race.
• 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off trackThe summit of the climb came 38km from the end of stage 14, which began in Limoux and ended in Foix in the foothills of the Pyrenees, and the incident occurred as the peloton emerged into the light and passed under the banner at the top, a quarter of an hour behind a five-man breakaway.