Other forms: marshals, marshalling, marshalled, marshaling, marshaled
To marshal is to gather people or facts and arrange them in order. Marshal the evidence, marshal an argument, marshal the crowd.
It implies both gathering and organising — marshalling is not just collecting. The noun has several official senses: a marshal is a steward at a race or an event, a high-ranking military officer, and in America a federal law officer. Note the spelling, one l in British English and often two in the verb forms — marshalled, marshalling — and that martial, meaning warlike, is a different word entirely and constantly confused with it.
1verbmarshalTo gather people or facts and put them in order.
“She marshalled the evidence into something a jury could follow.”
2nounofficialAn official who directs people at an event.
“A marshal waved them into the field.”
3nounseniorA very senior military officer.
“He was made a field marshal at fifty-two.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
marshal is a way of organising.
MARSHal → the MASTER puts them all in line
The master of the yard puts every single person into a line, in order, before the gates open and they let the crowd in.
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Frankish marhaskalk meant horse-servant — marah, a horse, plus skalk, a servant. The stable boy rose to become a commander of armies and then a rank above a general, which is one of the steepest promotions any English word has had.
Middle English
marschal
English, today
marshal
From Middle English marschal. From Middle English marschal, from Anglo-Norman mareschal (“farrier; military commander”), from Medieval Latin mariscalcus (“groom, army commander, court dignitary”), either from Frankish marhaskalk, or Old High German marah-scalc (“horse-servant”), from Proto-West Germanic marh + skalk (whence Old Saxon maraskalk, marahscalc). Compare English mare + shalk.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA