flock

A number of birds together in a group, such as those gathered together for the purpose of migration.

Noun

  1. A number of birds together in a group, such as those gathered together for the purpose of migration.
  2. A large number of animals associated together in a group; commonly used of sheep, but (dated) also used for goats, farmed animals, and a wide variety of animals.
    • He told his father, and said it would be just suitable work for him to run about fields and woods amongst the strawberry hills after a flock of hares, and now and then lie down and take a nap on some sunny hill. - 1886,...
    • Into the trees / Past meadow grounds / And further away from my home / Baying behind me / I hear the hounds / Flock's chasing to find me alone / A trail of sickness / Leading to me / If I am haunted / Then you will see...
    • My parents kept a flock of sheep. When Andy and I married in 1990, I brought 11 sheep descended from my father's flock to Andy's family's dairy farm. - 2026, Robin Nistock, quotee, “Makers Space”, in Spin Off, volume L,...
  3. Those served by a particular pastor or shepherd.
    • But lapsed into so long a pause again / As half amazed, half frighted all his flock: [...] - 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 83:
    • I also have other sheep that are not from this pen. I must lead them. They, too, will respond to my voice. So they will be one flock with one shepherd. - 1995, Green Key Books, God's Word to the Nations (John 10:16):
  4. A large number of people.
    • The heathen […] came to Nicanor by flocks. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Maccabees 14:14:

    Synonyms: congregation

  5. A religious congregation.

    Synonyms: congregation fold flock laity

Origin

From Middle English flok, from Old English flocc (“flock, company, troop”), from Proto-West Germanic *flokk, from Proto-Germanic *flukkaz (“crowd, troop”). Cognate with German Low German Flock (“crowd, flock”), Danish flok (“flock”), Swedish flock (“flock”), Norwegian flokk (“flock”), Faroese flokkur (“flock”), Icelandic flokkur (“flock, group”). Related also to Norman fliotchet (“flock, crowd”), from Old Norse. Perhaps related to Old English folc (“crowd, troop, band”). More at folk.

Forms

flocks

Synonyms

bunch gaggle horde host legion litter nest rabble swarm throng wake

Derived

flerd flock camera flocker flockful flockless flocklike flockling flockmaster flockmate flockmeal flockowner flockwise flocky flower of the flock species flock subflock

Noun Entry 2

  1. Coarse tufts of wool or cotton used in bedding.
  2. A lock of wool or hair.
    • I prythee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put a few flocks in the point. - c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies...
  3. Very fine sifted woollen refuse, especially that from shearing the nap of cloths, formerly used as a coating for wallpaper to give it a velvety or clothlike appearance; also, the dust of vegetable fibre used for a similar purpose.
    • There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls. - 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes,...

Origin

From Middle English flok (“tuft of wool”), from Old French floc (“tuft of wool”), from Late Latin floccus (“tuft of wool”), probably from Frankish *flokko (“down, wool, flock”), from Proto-Germanic *flukkōn-, *flukkan-, *fluksōn- (“down, flock”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian flok (“hair”).

Forms

flocks

Derived

flock paper flock worker's lung

Verb Entry 3

  1. To coat a surface with dense fibers or particles; especially, to create a dense arrangement of fibers with a desired nap.
    • the sampling and elution advantages of flocked swabs versus spun swabs
  2. To cover a Christmas tree with artificial snow.
  3. To treat a pool with chemicals to remove suspended particles.

    Synonyms: floc

Forms

flocks flocking flocked

Derived

flocked

Verb Entry 4

  1. To congregate in or head towards a place in large numbers.
    • People flocked to the cinema to see the new film.
    • What place the gods for our repose assigned. Friends daily flock; and scarce the kindly spring Began to clothe the ground - 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil:...
    • Given the poor state of the line's trains and schedules, it is remarkable that people flock to use or experience it in embarrassingly large numbers. - 2021 October 20, Mark Rand, “S&C: a line fit for tourists... and...
  2. To flock to; to crowd.
    • Good fellows, trooping, flocked me so. - 1609, John Taylor, Penniless Pilgrimage:

Forms

flocks flocking flocked

Derived

birds of a feather flock together birds of the feather flock together flock together