Definition of "marshal"

marshal

/ˈmɑːʃəl/

noun
plural marshals
1. (historical) A high-ranking officer in the household of a medieval prince or lord, who was originally in charge of the cavalry and later the military forces in general.
2. A military officer of the highest rank in several countries, including France and the former Soviet Union; equivalent to a general of the army in the United States. See also field marshal.
  Quotations
  Where stands Marshal Chiang Kai-shek in this conflict of opinion concerning the tactics which China should adopt towards the aggressor? Chiang Kai-shek, according to officials who know his mind with whom I have talked, is all for resistance- as soon as he thinks he can win!
  1936, H. Hessell Tiltman, The Far East Comes Nearer‎, Jarrolds, page 249
3. A person in charge of the ceremonial arrangement and management of a gathering.
4. (US) A federal lawman.
verb
third-person singular simple present marshals, present participle marshalling or marshaling, simple past and past participle marshalled or marshaled
1. To arrange (troops, etc.) in line for inspection or a parade.
  Quotations
  Nothing could be more business-like than the construction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old forest trees marshalled round their margins like a veteran army that had marched down to drink, only to be stricken motionless at the water’s edge.
  1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎
2. (by extension) To arrange (facts, etc.) in some methodical order.
  Quotations
  This train is formed only of "Blue Spot" wagons for London; vans for Mac Fisheries Finsbury Park depot are marshalled at the rear to be detached at Finsbury Park.
  1963 December, “The fish traffic of Aberdeen”, in Modern Railways, page 389
3. To ceremoniously guide, conduct or usher.
  Quotations
  Our conquering ſwords ſhal marſhal vs the wayUUe vſe to martch vpon the ſlaughtered foe:Trampling their bowels with our horſes hoofes: […]
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, Act III, scene iii
4. To gather data for transmission.
5. (computing, transitive) To serialize an object into a marshalled state represented by a sequence of bytes that can later be converted back into an object with equivalent properties.