Definition

1. Noun:

   • A group of animals, especially birds or sheep: A number of animals of one kind that are kept, feed, or travel together.
   • A large group or crowd of people: A large number of people gathered together.
   • A Christian congregation or body of believers: The members of a church under the care of a pastor or priest.

2. Verb:

   • To gather or move in a large group: To come together or travel in a crowd or flock.

Examples

• Noun:

  • A flock of geese flew overhead in a V-formation.
  • The shepherd tended to his flock of sheep.
  • A flock of tourists descended on the small village.
  • The pastor addressed his flock every Sunday.

• Verb:

  • In autumn, birds flock to warmer regions.
  • People flocked to the store for the grand opening sale.
  • Reporters flocked around the celebrity to ask questions.

Advanced Usage

• "Birds of a feather flock together": A proverb meaning people with similar interests, backgrounds, or characters tend to associate with each other.

  • He only spends time with other artists. Well, birds of a feather flock together.

• "To tend one's flock": To care for or look after the people for whom one is responsible, especially a religious leader.

  • The bishop traveled the diocese to tend to his flock.

Variants and Related Words

• Flocking (n): The process of gathering into a flock. Also, a textured finish applied to surfaces.
  • The flocking of starlings at dusk is called a murmuration.

Synonyms

• Noun (group): Herd, pack, swarm, drove, gaggle, congregation.
• Verb (gather): Congregate, assemble, converge, swarm, throng.

Related Phrasal Verbs

(The word "flock" is not commonly used with particles to form phrasal verbs. The verb is typically used alone or with "to" to indicate direction.)

Related Idioms

• "Like a flock of sheep": Behaving in a way that is not independent; following others without thinking.
  • The protesters moved through the streets like a flock of sheep.

Noun

1. a group of sheep or goats
2. an orderly crowd
   • a troop of children
3. (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
   • a batch of letters
   • a deal of trouble
   • a lot of money
   • he made a mint on the stock market
   • see the rest of the winners in our huge passel of photos
   • it must have cost plenty
   • a slew of journalists
   • a wad of money
4. a group of birds
5. a church congregation guided by a pastor

Verb

1. come together as in a cluster or flock
   • The poets constellate in this town every summer
2. move as a crowd or in a group
   • Tourists flocked to the shrine where the statue was said to have shed tears