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Webster 1913 Edition

Flock

Flock

,
Noun.
[AS.
flocc
flock, company; akin to Icel.
flokkr
crowd, Sw.
flock
, Dan.
flok
; prob. orig. used of flows, and akin to E.
fly
. See
Fly
.]
1.
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;
as, a
flock
of ravenous fowl
.
Milton.
The heathen . . . came to Nicanor by
flocks
.
2 Macc. xiv. 14.
2.
A Christian church or congregation; considered in their relation to the pastor, or minister in charge.
As half amazed, half frighted all his
flock
.
Tennyson.

Flock

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Flocked
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Flocking
.]
To gather in companies or crowds.
Friends daily
flock
.
Dryden.
Flocking fowl
(Zool.)
,
the greater scaup duck.

Flock

,
Verb.
T.
To flock to; to crowd.
[Obs.]
Good fellows, trooping,
flocked
me so.
Taylor (1609).

Flock

,
Noun.
[OE.
flokke
; cf. D.
vlok
, G.
flocke
, OHG.
floccho
, Icel.
flōki
, perh. akin to E.
flicker
,
flacker
, or cf. L.
floccus
, F.
floc
.]
1.
A lock of wool or hair.
I prythee, Tom, beat Cut’s saddle, put a few
flocks
in the point [pommel].
Shakespeare
2.
Woolen or cotton refuse (
s
ing.
or
pl.
), old rags, etc., reduced to a degree of fineness by machinery, and used for stuffing unpholstered furniture.
3.
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.
Flock bed
,
a bed filled with flocks or locks of coarse wool, or pieces of cloth cut up fine.
“Once a flock bed, but repaired with straw.”
Pope.
–
Flock paper
,
paper coated with flock fixed with glue or size.

Flock

,
Verb.
T.
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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Flock

FLOCK

,
Noun.
[L. floccus. It is the same radically as flake, and applied to wool or hair, we write it lock. See Flake.]
1.
A company or collection; applied to sheep and other small animals. A flock of sheep answers to a herd of larger cattle. But the word may sometimes perhaps be applied to larger beasts, and in the plural, flocks may include all kinds of domesticated animals.
2.
A company or collection of fowls of any kind, and when applied to birds on the wing, a flight; as a flock of wild-geese; a flock of ducks; a flock of blackbirds. in the United States, flocks of wild-pigeons sometimes darken the air.
3.
A body or crowd of people. [little used. Gr. a troop.]
4.
A lock of wool or hair. Hence, a flockbed.

FLOCK

,
Verb.
I.
To gather in companies or crowds; applied to men or other animals. People flock together. They flock to the play-house.
Friends daily flock.

Definition 2024

flock

flock

English

Noun

flock (2) of sheep

flock ‎(plural flocks)

  1. A large number of birds, especially those gathered together for the purpose of migration.
  2. A large number of animals, especially sheep or goats kept together.
  3. Those served by a particular pastor or shepherd.
    • 1995, Green Key Books, God's Word to the Nations (John 10:16):
      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.
    • Tennyson
      As half amazed, half frighted all his flock.
  4. A large number of people.
    • Bible, 2 Macc. xiv. 14
      The heathen […] came to Nicanor by flocks.
Synonyms
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.
    • Dryden
      Friends daily flock.
  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 *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”).

Noun

flock ‎(plural flocks)

  1. Coarse tufts of wool or cotton used in bedding
  2. A lock of wool or hair.
    • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
      I prythee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put a few flocks in the point [pommel].
  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.
    • 1915, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, The Lodger, chapter II:
      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.
Translations

Derived terms

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

Inflection of flock 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative flock flocken flockar flockarna
Genitive flocks flockens flockars flockarnas

Related terms

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /flɒk/
  • (US) IPA(key): /flɑk/
  • Rhymes: -ɒk

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