flock

A number of birds together in a group, such as those gathered together for the purpose of migration.

He told his father, and said it would be just suitable work for him to run about fields and woods amongst the strawberry hills after a flock of hares, and now and then lie down and take a nap on some sunny hill.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 170:

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.

But lapsed into so long a pause again / As half amazed, half frighted all his flock: [...]

1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 83:

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.

1995, Green Key Books, God's Word to the Nations (John 10:16):

Those served by a particular pastor or shepherd.

The heathen […] came to Nicanor by flocks.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Maccabees 14:14:

(Christianity) A religious congregation.

tufë

group of animals, especially sheep or goats

From Middle English flok, from Old English flocc (“flock, company, troop”), from Proto-West Germanic *flokk, from Proto-Germanic *flukkaz (“crowd, troop”). Cognate with German Low German Flock (“crowd, flock”), Danish flok (“flock”), Swedish flock (“flock”), Norwegian flokk (“flock”), Faroese flokkur (“flock”), Icelandic flokkur (“flock, group”). Related also to Norman fliotchet (“flock, crowd”), from Old Norse. Perhaps related to Old English folc (“crowd, troop, band”). More at folk.


flock

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

1697, Virgil, translated by John Dryden, The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

Given the poor state of the line's trains and schedules, it is remarkable that people flock to use or experience it in embarrassingly large numbers.

2021 October 20, Mark Rand, “S&C: a line fit for tourists... and everyone?”, in RAIL, number 942, page 43:

(intransitive) To congregate in or head towards a place in large numbers.

Good fellows, trooping, flocked me so.

1609, John Taylor, Penniless Pilgrimage:

(transitive, obsolete) To flock to; to crowd.

en-verb

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

flocks (present singular third-person)
flocking (participle present)
flocked (participle past)
flocked (past)


flock

Coarse tufts of wool or cotton used in bedding.

I prythee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put a few flocks in the point.

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]:

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.

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:

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.

en-noun

flock (countable and uncountable, plural flocks)

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 *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian flok (“hair”).


flock

the sampling and elution advantages of flocked swabs versus spun swabs

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

(transitive) To cover a Christmas tree with artificial snow.

(transitive) To treat a pool with chemicals to remove suspended particles.


flock

a flock (group of animals (or people, by extension, often emphasizing lack of independence or the like))

flock (indefinite nominative singular)
flocks (genitive indefinite singular)
flocken (definite nominative singular)
flockens (definite genitive singular)
flockar (indefinite nominative plural)
flockars (genitive indefinite plural)
flockarna (definite nominative plural)
flockarnas (definite genitive plural)

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