Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A tuft, as of fiber or hair.
  • noun Waste wool or cotton used for stuffing furniture and mattresses.
  • noun Pulverized wool or felt that is applied to paper, cloth, or metal to produce a texture or pattern.
  • transitive verb To stuff with waste wool or cotton.
  • transitive verb To texture or pattern with pulverized wool or felt.
  • noun A group of animals that live, travel, or feed together.
  • noun A group of people under the leadership of one person, especially the members of a church.
  • noun A large crowd or number: synonym: crowd.
  • intransitive verb To gather or travel in a flock or crowd.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To gather in a flock, company, or crowd; go in a flock or crowd: as, birds of a feather flock together; the people flocked together in the market-place.
  • To gather into a flock or company.
  • To crowd.
  • To cover with flock; distribute flock on (a prepared surface of cloth or paper). E. H. Knight. See flock, n., 2.
  • noun A company or band (of persons).
  • noun A company of animals, in modern use especially of sheep, goats, or birds. Among sportsmen it is applied especially to companies of wild ducks, geese, and shore-birds.
  • noun Hence In Biblical and ecclesiastical use, a company of persons united in one church, under a leader called, by the same figure, the shepherd or pastor; a congregation, with regard to its minister.
  • noun Synonyms Flock, Gaggle, Covey, Pack, Gang, Wisp, Bevy, Sedge, Brood. Flock is the popular term for birds of many sorts; it is applied by sportsmen especially to wild ducks, geese, and shore-birds. Herbert applies gaggle to geese; Colquhoun applies it to geese swimming; it is not used in the United States. Covey is applied to several kinds of birds, especially partridges and pinnated grouse. Pack is applied to the pinnated grouse in the late season when they go in “packs” or large flocks. Gang is applied to wild turkeys, wisp to snipe, bevy to quail, sedge to herons. Brood applies to the mother and her young till the latter are old enough for game.
  • noun A lock or tuft of wool or hair.
  • noun Finely powdered wool or cloth, used, when colored, for making flock-paper and also formerly as shoddy. See extract under flock-powder.
  • noun The refuse of wool, or the shearings of woolen goods, or old cloth or rags torn or broken up by the machine called the devil, used for stuffing mattresses, upholstering furniture, etc.
  • noun Same as flock-bed.
  • noun plural Dregs; sediment; specks; motes.
  • noun In chem., a loose light mass of any substance: usually applied only to such masses as they appear suspended in a solution.
  • noun A hurdle: same as flake.
  • To flout; jeer.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To gather in companies or crowds.
  • intransitive verb (Zoöl.) the greater scaup duck.
  • transitive verb obsolete To flock to; to crowd.
  • noun 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.
  • noun A Christian church or congregation; considered in their relation to the pastor, or minister in charge.
  • transitive verb 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.
  • noun A lock of wool or hair.
  • noun Woolen or cotton refuse (sing. or pl.), old rags, etc., reduced to a degree of fineness by machinery, and used for stuffing unpholstered furniture.
  • noun 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.
  • noun a bed filled with flocks or locks of coarse wool, or pieces of cloth cut up fine.
  • noun paper coated with flock fixed with glue or size.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Coarse tufts of wool or cotton used in bedding
  • verb transitive To coat a surface with dense fibers or particles.
  • noun A large number of birds, especially those gathered together for the purpose of migration.
  • noun A large number of animals, especially sheep or goats kept together.
  • noun Those served by a particular pastor or shepherd
  • noun A large number of people
  • verb transitive To congregate in or head towards a place in large numbers.
  • verb To treat a pool with chemicals to remove suspended particles.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb come together as in a cluster or flock
  • noun a church congregation guided by a pastor
  • noun a group of birds
  • noun a group of sheep or goats
  • noun an orderly crowd

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English flok, from Old French floc, from Latin floccus, tuft of wool.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English flok, from Old English floc.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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 *plAwək- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). Cognate with Old High German flocko ("down"), Middle Dutch vlocke ("flock"), Norwegian dialectal flugsa ("snowflake"). Other cognate Albanian flokë ("hair").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English flock ("flock"), from Old English flocc ("flock, company, troop"), from Proto-Germanic *flukkaz, *flakka- (“crowd, troop”). Cognate with Middle Low German vlocke ("crowd, flock"), Old Norse flokkr ("crowd, troop, band, flock"). Perhaps related to Old English folc ("crowd, troop, band"). More at folk.

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Examples

  • There appeared to be an unusual number of peacocks about the place, and I was making some remarks upon what I termed a flock of them, that were basking under a sunny wall, when

    The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon 2002

  • There appeared to be an unusual number of peacocks about the place, and I was making some remarks upon what I termed a flock of them that were basking under a sunny wall, when I was gently corrected in my phraseology by Master

    The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon Washington Irving 1821

  • I was making some remarks upon what I termed a flock of them, that were basking under a sunny wall, when I was gently corrected in my phraseology by Master Simon, who told me that, according to the most ancient and approved treatise on hunting, I must say a MUSTER of peacocks.

    Old Christmas Washington Irving 1821

  • I was making some remarks upon what I termed a flock of them, that were basking under a sunny wall, when I was gently corrected in my phraseology by Master Simon, who told me that, according to the most ancient and approved treatise on hunting, I must say a _muster_ of peacocks.

    Old Christmas From the Sketch Book of Washington Irving Washington Irving 1821

  • The shepherd of the flock is the shepherd of every sheep, and will take care that not one, even of the little ones, shall perish.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon) 1721

  • So, it appears it would be illegal for me to restrain my dogs from bolting if a bird has fallen in the deeks and the flock is circling back.

    What Are the Biggest Duck Blind Sins a Gun Dog Can Make? 2009

  • If you know where a flock is or know a good area, you should get in the woods before daylight and preferably be set up by daylight.

    Turkey Hunting Basics 2009

  • If you know where a flock is or know a good area, you should get in the woods before daylight and preferably be set up by daylight.

    Turkey Hunting Basics 2009

  • And people will again flock to it all, ready to rejig their social communications agenda, and spend their money on the new phone and all the apps.

    Twitter, et al: redistributing the wealth 2009

  • So, it appears it would be illegal for me to restrain my dogs from bolting if a bird has fallen in the deeks and the flock is circling back.

    What Are the Biggest Duck Blind Sins a Gun Dog Can Make? 2009

Comments

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  • Also livejournal slang for "friends-lock".

    1. To lock an entry or journal to only be viewable by those on one's "friends list".

    2. An adjective describing such a locked entry.

    July 9, 2008

  • See also flist.

    July 9, 2008

  • Also a collective noun for sheep.

    Baa.

    July 9, 2008

  • An AWESOME web browser.

    November 1, 2010