flock
Noun · VerbOpen English WordNet
Noun (5)flocks
- a church congregation guided by a pastorType of congregation, fold
- a group of birdsType of animal groupKinds gaggle, bevy, flight, covert, wisp, exaltation, coveyMembers bird
- (often followed by ‘of’) a large number or amount or extent“a batch of letters”“a deal of trouble”“a lot of money”“he made a mint on the stock market”“see the rest of the winners in our huge passel of photos”“it must have cost plenty”“a slew of journalists”“a wad of money”Synonyms: batchdealgood dealgreat dealhatfulheaplotmassmessmicklemintmountainmucklepasselpeckpileplentypotquite a littleraftsightslewspatestacktidy sumwadType of large indefinite quantity, large indefinite amountKinds flood, haymow
- an orderly crowd“a troop of children”Synonyms: troopType of crowd
- a group of sheep or goatsSynonyms: foldType of animal groupMembers sheep
Verb (2)flocks, flocked, flocking
- move as a crowd or in a group“Tourists flocked to the shrine where the statue was said to have shed tears”More general travel, go
- come together as in a cluster or flock“The poets constellate in this town every summer”Synonyms: clusterconstellateclumpMore general meet, gatherMore specific huddle, bunch together
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: AS. flocc flock, company; akin to Icel. flokkr crowd, Sw. flock, Dan. flok; prob. orig. used of flows, and akin to E. fly. See Fly.
1. A company or collection of living creatures; — especially applied to sheep and birds, rarely to persons or (except in the plural) to cattle and other large animals; as, a flock of ravenous fowl. John Milton
The heathen... came to Nicanor by flocks.— 2 Macc. xiv. 14.
2. A Christian church or congregation; considered in their relation to the pastor, or minister in charge.
As half amazed, half frighted all his flock.— Alfred Tennyson
To gather in companies or crowds.
Friends daily flock.— John Dryden
Flocking fowl Zoology, the greater scaup duck.
To flock to; to crowd. obsolete
Good fellows, trooping, flocked me so.— Taylor (1609).
Origin: OE. flokke; cf. D. vlok, G. flocke, OHG. floccho, Icel. flōki, perh. akin to E. flicker, flacker, or cf. L. floccus, F. floc.
1. A lock of wool or hair.
I prythee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put a few flocks in the point [pommel].— William Shakespeare
2. Woolen or cotton refuse (sing. or pl.), old rags, etc., reduced to a degree of fineness by machinery, and used for stuffing unpholstered furniture.
3. Very fine, sifted, woolen refuse, especially that from shearing the nap of cloths, used as a coating for wall paper to give it a velvety or clothlike appearance; also, the dust of vegetable fiber used for a similar purpose.
Flock bed, a bed filled with flocks or locks of coarse wool, or pieces of cloth cut up fine. “Once a flock bed, but repaired with straw.” Alexander Pope — Flock paper, paper coated with flock fixed with glue or size.
To coat with flock, as wall paper; to roughen the surface of (as glass) so as to give an appearance of being covered with fine flock.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54