close-serried

Out from the beleaguered hills knights of Gondor, Riders of Rohan, Dúnedain of the North, close-serried companies, drove against their wavering foes, piercing the press with the thrust of bitter spears.

The Lord of the Rings Tolkien, J. R. R. 1954

We made a kind of a dooryard in front of the cave's mouth, with a stockade that we borrowed from Robinson Crusoe, driving pointed stakes close-serried and hoping they'd take root and sprout; but they didn't.

It, and Other Stories Gouverneur Morris 1914

Foot stride past through the close-serried ranks of the maddening herds?

The Lock and Key Library Classic Mystery and Detective Stories: Old Time English Julian Hawthorne 1890

All who came near that close-serried ring of steadfast Saxon strength were cut down, and the piles of dead Normans round them were becoming ramparts, when twenty knights bound themselves by an oath that the standard should be taken, spurred their horses against the ranks, and by main force, with the loss of ten of their number, forced an opening.

Cameos from English History, from Rollo to Edward II Charlotte Mary Yonge 1862

The Piazza di San Marco was filled by a multitude who showed no other movement than that which proceeded from the pressure of new-comers trying to force their way forward from all the openings: but the front ranks were already close-serried and resisted the pressure.

Romola George Eliot 1849

I see that giant Foot stride past through the close-serried ranks of the maddening herds?

A Strange Story — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

But before the close-serried lines of the English, with their physical strength and veteran practice in their own special arm, the Norman foot were mowed as by the scythe.

Harold : the Last of the Saxon Kings — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

Foot stride past through the close-serried ranks of the maddening herds?

A Strange Story — Volume 08 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838