English
flock
see also: Flock
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /flɒk/
  • (America) IPA: /flɑk/
Etymology 1

From Middle English flok, from Old English flocc, from Proto-West Germanic *flokk, from Proto-Germanic *flukkaz.

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 sheep, but (dated) also used for goats, farmed animals, and a wide variety of animals.
  3. Those served by a particular pastor or shepherd.
    • 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC ↗, page 83 ↗:
      But lapsed into so long a pause again / As half amazed, half frighted all his flock: [...]
  4. A large number of people.
    Synonyms: congregation
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, 2 Maccabees 14:14 ↗:
      The heathen […] came to Nicanor by flocks.
  5. (Christianity) A religious congregation.
    Synonyms: congregation
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

flock (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.
    • 1697, Virgil, translated by John Dryden, The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:
      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, John Taylor, Penniless Pilgrimage:
      Good fellows, trooping, flocked me so.
Translations Etymology 2

From Middle English flok, from Old French floc, from Late Latin floccus, probably from Frankish *flokko, from Proto-Germanic *flukkōn-, *flukkan-, *fluksōn- ("down, flock"), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk-.

Noun

flock

  1. Coarse tufts of wool or cotton used in bedding.
  2. A lock of wool or hair.
    • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene i]:
      I prythee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put a few flocks in the point.
  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.
    • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC ↗; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC ↗, page 0091 ↗:
      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 (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.
    the sampling and elution advantages of flocked swabs versus spun swabs
  2. (transitive) To cover a Christmas tree with artificial snow.
  3. (transitive) To treat a pool with chemicals to remove suspended particles.
Flock
Proper noun
  1. Surname.


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