flock

Etymology 1

From Middle English flok, from Old English flocc (“flock, company, troop”), from Proto-West Germanic *flokk, from Proto-Germanic *flukkaz (“crowd, troop”). Cognate with Middle Low German vlocke (“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.

noun

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.
   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
3. Those served by a particular pastor or shepherd.herd/flock
   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)
4. A large number of people.
5. (Christianity) A religious congregation.

verb

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
   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. October 20 2021, Mark Rand, “S&C: a line fit for tourists... and everyone?”, in RAIL, number 942, page 43
2. (transitive, obsolete) To flock to; to crowd.
   Good fellows, trooping, flocked me so. 1609, John Taylor, Penniless Pilgrimage
3. To treat a pool with chemicals to remove suspended particles.

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 *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

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.

verb

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. To cover a Christmas tree with artificial snow.