flock
pronunciation
How to pronounce flock in British English:
UK [flɒk]
How to pronounce flock in American English:
US [flɑːk]
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- Noun:
- a church congregation guided by a pastor
- a group of birds
- (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
- an orderly crowd
- a group of sheep or goats
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- Verb:
- move as a crowd or in a group
- come together as in a cluster or flock
Word Origin
- 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);" of unknown origin, not found in other Germanic languages; perhaps related to folc "people," but the metathesis would have been unusual for Old English. In Old English of humans only; extended c. 1200 to "a number of animals of one kind moving or feeding together;" of domestic animals c. 1300. The special reference to birds is recent (19c.). Transferred to bodies of Christians, in relation to Christ or their pastor, from mid-14c.
- flock (n.2)
- "tuft of wool," mid-13c., also found in continental Germanic and Scandinavian, all probably from Old French floc, from Latin floccus "flock of wool, lock of hair."
- flock (v.)
- c. 1300 "gather, congregate" (intransitive), from flock (n.1). Related: Flocked; flocking.
Example
- 1. The flock produced many lambs .
- 2. High-flyers from around the world still flock to america 's universities and clamour to work for google and microsoft .
- 3. It doesn 't matter how large a flock is , or if two birds are on opposite sides .
- 4. Take a look at how many young japanese flock to the apple stores in tokyo and how few linger in the sony stores .
- 5. Some shepherds came along and drove them away , but moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock .