flock








noun

  1. a number of animals of one kind, especially sheep, goats, or birds, that keep or feed together or are herded together.
  2. a large number of people; crowd.
  3. a large group of things: a flock of letters to answer.
  4. (in New Testament and ecclesiastical use)
    1. the Christian church in relation to Christ.
    2. a single congregation in relation to its pastor.
  5. Archaic. a band or company of persons.

verb (used without object)

  1. to gather or go in a flock or crowd: They flocked around the football hero.

noun

  1. a lock or tuft of wool, hair, cotton, etc.
  2. (sometimes used with a plural verb) wool refuse, shearings of cloth, old cloth torn to pieces, or the like, for upholstering furniture, stuffing mattresses, etc.
  3. Also called flocking. (sometimes used with a plural verb) finely powdered wool, cloth, etc., used for producing a velvetlike pattern on wallpaper or cloth or for coating metal.
  4. floc(def 1).

verb (used with object)

  1. to stuff with flock, as a mattress.
  2. to decorate or coat with flock, as wallpaper, cloth, or metal.

noun (sometimes functioning as plural)

  1. a group of animals of one kind, esp sheep or birds
  2. a large number of people; crowd
  3. a body of Christians regarded as the pastoral charge of a priest, a bishop, the pope, etc
  4. rare a band of people; group

verb (intr)

  1. to gather together or move in a flock
  2. to go in large numberspeople flocked to the church

noun

  1. a tuft, as of wool, hair, cotton, etc
    1. waste from fabrics such as cotton, wool, or other cloth used for stuffing mattresses, upholstered chairs, etc
    2. (as modifier)flock mattress
  2. very small tufts of wool applied to fabrics, wallpaper, etc, to give a raised pattern
  3. another word for floccule

verb

  1. (tr) to fill, cover, or ornament with flock
n.1

Old English flocc “a group of persons, company, troop,” related to Old Norse flokkr “crowd, troop, band,” Middle Low German vlocke “crowd, flock (of sheep);” not found in other Germanic languages; perhaps related to folc “people,” but the metathesis would have been unusual for Old English.

Extended c.1200 to “a number of animals of one kind moving or feeding together;” of domestic animals c.1300. Transferred to bodies of Christians, in relation to Christ or their local pastor, from mid-14c.

n.2

“tuft of wool,” mid-13c., probably from Old French floc, from Latin floccus “flock of wool, lock of hair.”

v.

“gather, congregate,” c.1300, from flock (n.). Related: Flocked; flocking.

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