different between flock vs gang

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fl?k/
• (US) IPA^(key): /fl?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Etymology 1

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.

Noun

flock (plural flocks)

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 various farmed animals, such as sheep and goats, but applied to a wide variety of animals.
3. Those served by a particular pastor or shepherd.
4. A large number of people.

   Synonym: congregation

5. (Christianity) A religious congregation.

   Synonym: congregation

Synonyms

(large number of people):

• bunch, gaggle, horde, host, legion, litter, nest, rabble, swarm, throng, wake

Translations

Verb

flock (third-person singular simple present flocks, present participle flocking, simple past and past participle flocked)

1. (intransitive) 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

2. (transitive, obsolete) To flock to; to crowd.
   • 1609, Taylor

     Good fellows, trooping, flocked me so.

3. To treat a pool with chemicals to remove suspended particles.

Translations

Etymology 2

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 *flukk?n-, *flukkan-, *fluks?n- (“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 flokë (“hair”).

Noun

flock (countable and uncountable, plural flocks)

1. Coarse tufts of wool or cotton used in bedding.
2. A lock of wool or hair.
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.

Translations

Verb

flock (third-person singular simple present flocks, present participle flocking, simple past and past participle flocked)

1. (transitive) To coat a surface with dense fibers or particles; especially, to create a dense arrangement of fibers with a desired nap.

Translations

Derived terms

• flocked

See also

• Appendix:English collective nouns

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish flokker, flukker, from Old Norse flokkr, from Proto-Germanic *flukkaz. Cognate with Faroese flokkur, Icelandic flokkur, Norwegian flokk, and Danish flok.

Pronunciation

Noun

flock c

1. flock; a group of people or animals
2. murder of crows

Declension

Related terms

• flockas

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: g?ng, IPA^(key): /?æ?/
• Rhymes: -æ?

Etymology 1

From Middle English gangen, from Old English gangan (“to go, walk, turn out”), from Proto-Germanic *gangan? (“to go, walk”), from Proto-Indo-European *??eng?- (“to step, walk”). Cognate with Scots gang (“to go on foot, walk”), Swedish gånga (“to walk, go”), Faroese ganga (“to walk”), Icelandic ganga (“to walk, go”), Vedic Sanskrit ????? (já?has). Ultimately: related to etym. 2, see below.

Alternative forms

• gan

Verb

gang (third-person singular simple present gangs, present participle ganging, simple past and past participle ganged)

1. (intransitive, chiefly Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To go; walk; proceed.
   • 1772, Richard Cumberland, The Fashionable Lover. A Comedy. Act III

     (Colin alone) Ah, Colin, thou’rt a prodigal; a thriftless loon thou’st been, that cou’d na’ keep a little pelf to thysall when thou had’st got it; now thou may’st gang in this poor geer to thy live's end, and worse too for aught I can tell; ’faith, mon, ’twas a smeart little bysack of money thou hadst scrap’d together, an the best part of it had na’ being last amongst thy kinsfolk, in the Isles of Skey and Mull; muckle gude may it do the weams of them that ha’ it! There was Jamie MacGregor and Sawney MacNab, and the twa braw lads of Kinruddin, with old Charley MacDougall, my mother's first husband's second cousin: by my sol I cou’d na’ see such near relations, and gentlemen of sich auncient families gang upon bare feet, while I rode a horseback: I had been na’ true Scot, an I cou’d na’ ge’en a countryman a gude last upon occasion (as he is going out, Miss Aubrey enters.)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle English gang, from Old English gang (“a journey; way; passage”), from Proto-Germanic *gangaz, from Proto-Indo-European *??ong?-o-s, from *??eng?- (“to step; stride”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gong, Dutch gang, German Gang, Norwegian gang, Swedish gång, Icelandic gangur, Vedic Sanskrit ????? (já?has).

Noun

gang (plural gangs)

2. A number going in company; a number of friends or persons associated for a particular purpose.

   the Gashouse Gang

   The gang from our office is going out for drinks Friday night.

3. A group of laborers under one foreman; a squad.

   a gang of sailors; a railroad gang; a labor gang or pool.

4. A criminal group with a common cultural background and identifying features, often associated with a particular section of a city.

   a youth gang; a neighborhood gang; motorcycle gang.

6. A group of criminals or alleged criminals who band together for mutual protection and profit.

   The Winter Hill Gang was quite proficient at murdering rival mobsters in order to take over their rackets.

7. A group of politicians united in furtherance of a political goal.

   The Gang of Four was led by Jiang Qing, the fourth wife of Mao Zedong.

   Not all members of the Gang of Six are consistent in their opposition to filibuster.

8. (US) A chain gang.
9. A combination of similar tools or implements arranged so as, by acting together, to save time or labor; a set.

   a gang of saws; a gang of plows; a gang drill; gang milling.

10. A set; all required for an outfit.

    a new gang of stays.

11. (electrics) A number of switches or other electrical devices wired into one unit and covered by one faceplate.

    an outlet gang box; a double gang switch.

12. (electrics) A group of wires attached as a bundle.

    a gang of wires

    Do a drop for the telephone gang, then another drop for the Internet gang, both through the ceiling of the wiring closet.

13. (now chiefly dialectal) A going, journey; a course, path, track.
    • 1840, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Woodnotes I.3:

      In unploughed Maine he sought the lumberers’ gang / Where from a hundred lakes young rivers sprang

    • 1869, Papa André, Once a Week, page 418/1:

      That week was also called the Gang Week, from the Saxon ganger, to go; and the Rogation days were termed the Gang Days.

    • 1895, Frederick Tupper Jr., Anglo-Saxon Dæg-Mæl, Modern Language Association of America, page 229:

      Neither Marshall nor Bouterwek makes clear the connection existing between the Gang-days and the Major and Minor Litanies.

14. (obsolete) An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory.
    • c. 1000, Aelfric, Homilies, Vol. I, page 290:

      Þaða he to gange com.

Synonyms

• (outhouse): See Thesaurus:bathroom

Derived terms

Translations

Descendants

• ? Portuguese: gangue
• ? Thai: ???? (g??ng)

Verb

gang (third-person singular simple present gangs, present participle ganging, simple past and past participle ganged)

1. (transitive) To attach similar items together to form a larger unit.
   • 1981, United States. Department of Defense, Human Engineering Design Criteria for Military Systems (page 58)

     Volume controls may be ganged to mode switches to provide maximum output […]

Derived terms

• gang up
• gang up on

See also

• Appendix:English collective nouns

Etymology 3

See gan.

Verb

gang (second-person singular simple present gangst)

1. Pronunciation spelling of gan.

Etymology 4

Shortening of gangbang.

Verb

gang (third-person singular simple present gangs, present participle ganging, simple past and past participle ganged)

1. Synonym of gangbang: to have sex with a single partner as a gang.
   • 2015, Richard Allen, Skinhead, page 80:

     […] there's a thin line to tread to avoid fights or getting “ganged” when rejecting the sexual overtures of incarcerated women.

References

• The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English.

Etymology 5

Noun

gang (countable and uncountable, plural gangs)

1. (mining) Alternative form of gangue

Anagrams

• gnag

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch gang, from Middle Dutch ganc, from Old Dutch gank, gang, from Proto-Germanic *gangaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?/

Noun

gang (plural gange)

1. a passageway, alley

Alemannic German

Verb

gang

1. second-person imperative singular of gaa

Balinese

Etymology

From Dutch gang (“passageway, alley”).

Noun

gang

1. alleyway, alley, narrow street. A narrow pathway bound by walls on both sides

Cebuano

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: gang

Etymology 1

From English gang.

Noun

gang

1. a gang; a criminal group with a common cultural background and identifying features, often associated with a particular section of a city

Etymology 2

From langga, pangga. Compare lang.

Noun

gang

1. a term of address for a beloved person; dear; sweetie

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:gang.

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??an??/, [?????]
• Rhymes: -???

Etymology 1

From Old Danish gang, from Old Norse gangr, from Proto-Germanic *gangaz, from Proto-Indo-European *??eng?- (“stride, step”).

Noun

gang c (singular definite gangen, plural indefinite gange)

1. the act of walking, a walk
2. a time (an occurrence, an incidence)

   Hvor mange gange slog klokken?

   How many times did the bell toll?

3. a way or path to walk on, either outdoors or indoors (a corridor)

Inflection

Derived terms

Etymology 2

See gange.

Verb

gang

1. imperative of gange

References

• “gang” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “gang” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch ganc, from Old Dutch gank, gang, from Proto-Germanic *gangaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???/
• Hyphenation: gang
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

gang m (plural gangen, diminutive gangetje n)

1. passageway, alley
2. gait, walk (person's manner of walking or stepping)
3. journey
4. hallway, corridor
5. course

Derived terms

Descendants

• Afrikaans: gang
• ? Indonesian: gang

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English gang.

Pronunciation

• (France) IPA^(key): /????/
• (Canadian French) IPA^(key): /?a?/

Noun

gang m (plural gangs)

1. gang, group of ill-doers

Derived terms

• en gang

Further reading

• “gang” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Garo

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

gang

1. river

References

• Burling, R. (2003) The Language of the Modhupur Mandi (Garo) Vol. II: The Lexicon?^[1], Bangladesh: University of Michigan, page 114

German

Verb

gang

1. obsolete form of geh, second-person imperative singular of gehen

Hungarian

Etymology

From German Gang.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?????]
• Rhymes: -???

Noun

gang (plural gangok)

1. (informal) hanging corridor (along the main walls of the courtyard of a tenement building, a major venue of socializing with neighbours)

   Synonym: (mainly as an architectural term) függ?folyosó

Declension

Derived terms

• gangos
• körgang

Further reading

• gang in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN

Indonesian

Etymology 1

From Dutch gang (“passageway, alley”), from Middle Dutch ganc, from Old Dutch gank, gang, from Proto-Germanic *gangaz, from Proto-Indo-European *??ong?-o-s, from *??eng?- (“to step; stride”). Doublet of geng.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?/
• Hyphenation: gang

Noun

gang (first-person possessive gangku, second-person possessive gangmu, third-person possessive gangnya)

1. alleyway, alley, narrow street. A narrow pathway bound by walls on both sides

   Synonym: lorong

Descendants

• ? Min Nan: ? (kàn, “narrow street”)

Etymology 2

Noun

gang (first-person possessive gangku, second-person possessive gangmu, third-person possessive gangnya)

1. Alternative spelling of geng (“gang”)

Verb

gang

1. Alternative spelling of geng

References

Further reading

• “gang” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Italian

Alternative forms

• ganga, ghenga, ghega (dated)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English gang.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???n?/

Noun

gang f (invariable, dated plural gangs)

1. gang, specifically:
   1. (dated) A group of people.
   2. (dated) A group of laborers under one foreman.
   3. A criminal group.

Related terms

• gangster

References

• gang in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Mandarin

Pronunciation

Romanization

gang

1. Nonstandard spelling of g?ng.
2. Nonstandard spelling of g?ng.
3. Nonstandard spelling of gàng.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse gangr, also related to gå.

Noun

gang m (definite singular gangen, indefinite plural ganger, definite plural gangene)

1. hall, hallway

   Sett fra deg skoene i gangen.

   Leave your shoes in the hallway.

2. passage, corridor

   I enden av den lange gangen er klasserommet.

   The classroom is at the end of the long corridor.

3. aisle
4. walk, path
5. walk, walking, going
6. walk, gait

   Gangen hans er litt merkelig.

   His gait is a bit weird

7. working, running, action, movement, motion, operation
8. course; passage
9. course; march
10. time

    Vi vant fem ganger på rad!

    We won five times in a row!

11. plot, action

    Historiens gang var litt komplisert.

    The plot of the story was somewhat complicated.

12. (mining) dike, lode
13. vein
14. (anatomy) duct

Derived terms

References

• “gang” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse gangr, also related to gå.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /????/

Noun

gang m (definite singular gangen, indefinite plural gangar, definite plural gangane)

1. hall, hallway

   Sett frå deg skorne i gangen.

   Leave your shoes in the hallway.

2. passage, corridor

3. aisle
4. walk, path
5. walk, walking, going
6. walk, gait

   Gangen hans er litt merkeleg.

   His gait is a bit weird

7. working, running, action, movement, motion, operation
8. course; passage
9. course; march
10. plot, action

    Gangen i soga var litt komplisert.

    The plot of the story was somewhat complicated.

11. (mining) dike, lode
12. vein
13. (anatomy) duct

Derived terms

See also

• gong

References

• “gang” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Alternative forms

• geng, gong, gung

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *gangaz, from Proto-Indo-European *??eng?- (“to step; stride”). Related to Old English gangan (“to go, walk”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n?/, [????]

Noun

gang m

1. going, walking
2. path
3. gait
4. toilet

Declension

Derived terms

• gangsetl
• gangst?l
• ingang
• niþergang
• ?pgang
• ?tgang
• ymbgang

Descendants

• Middle English: gang, gong
  • Scots: gang
  • English: gang, gong, goung
    • ? Dutch: gang
    • ? Portuguese: gangue
    • ? Norman: dgaîngue

Derived terms

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *gangaz.

Noun

gang m (plural ganga)

1. A path, course, way, journey; a going

Declension

Derived terms

• ubargang
• Wolfgang

Descendants

• Middle High German: ganc
  • German: Gang

Polish

Etymology

From English gang, from Middle English gang, from Old English gang, from Proto-Germanic *gangaz, from Proto-Indo-European *??ong?-o-s, from *??eng?-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ank/

Noun

gang m inan

1. gang (criminal group with a common background)

Declension

Related terms

• (nouns) gangster, gangsterstwo, gangsteryzm
• (adjective) gangsterski

Further reading

• gang in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• gang in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Noun

gang m (Portugal) or f (Brazil) (plural gangs)

1. Dated spelling of gangue.

Romanian

Etymology

From German Gang

Noun

gang n (plural ganguri)

1. passageway

Declension

Scots

Alternative forms

• gae
• gan

Etymology

From Middle English gangen, from Old English gangan, Old Norse ganga, with inflected forms from Old English g?n (like English go).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???/

Verb

gang (third-person singular present gangs, present participle gaun, past gaed, past participle gaen)

1. To go.
   • 1794, Robert Burns, "A Red, Red, Rose":

   And I will love thee still, my dear
   Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Spanish

Etymology

From English gang.

Noun

gang m (plural gangs)

1. gang

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà N?i) IPA^(key): [?a????]
• (Hu?) IPA^(key): [?a????]
• (H? Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [?a????]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Vietic *c-ka?? (“handspan”).

Noun

gang

1. a handspan

See also

Etymology 2

From Proto-Vietic *t-ka??, from Old Chinese ? (OC *C.k?a?) (B-S) (SV: c??ng).

Noun

gang

1. cast iron