A Turkish military force organised in 1330, and more perfectly in 1336; composed originally of Christian youths taken prisoners in war or kidnapped, and trained as Mohammedans; from being at first 10,000, and fostered by the privileges granted them, increased to 300,000 or 400,000 strong, till they became unruly and a danger to the State, when, after various unsuccessful attempts to crush them, they were in 1826 overborne by the Sultan Mahmoud II. and dissolved.