squadron

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

• noun A naval unit consisting of two or more divisions of a fleet.
• noun An armored cavalry unit subordinate to a regiment and consisting of two or more troops.
• noun A cavalry or armored unit of a European army, corresponding to a company.
• noun A basic tactical air force unit, subordinate to a group and consisting of two or more flights.
• noun A multitude or horde.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A square.
• noun A body of soldiers drawn up in a square, or in regular array, as for battle; specifically, in modern armies, the principal division of a regiment of cavalry.
• noun A division of a fleet; a detachment of ships of war employed on a particular service or station, and under the command of a flag-officer.
• noun in early New England records (1636), one of four divisions of town land, probably in the first instance a square.
• noun A school district.
• noun Sometimes spelled squadrant.
• To form into squadrons, as a body of soldiers.
• To form in order; array.

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

• noun rare Primarily, a square; hence, a square body of troops; a body of troops drawn up in a square.
• noun (Mil.) A body of cavalry comprising two companies or troops, and averaging from one hundred and twenty to two hundred men.
• noun (Naut.) A detachment of vessels employed on any particular service or station, under the command of the senior officer.
• noun a squadron of observation or practice, that cruises rapidly about from place to place.

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

• noun obsolete Primarily, a square; hence, a square body of troops; a body of troops drawn up in a square.
• noun military, army A body of cavalry comprising two companies or troops, and averaging from one hundred and twenty to two hundred soldiers.
• noun military, navy A detachment of vessels employed on any particular service or station, under the command of the senior officer; as, the North Atlantic Squadron.
• noun military, air force A tactical air force unit; consists of at least two flights; multiple squadrons make up a group.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a naval unit that is detached from the fleet for a particular task
• noun an air force unit larger than a flight and smaller than a group
• noun a cavalry unit consisting of two or more troops and headquarters and supporting arms