Noun

(en noun)

(biology, systematics) A group of animals or other organisms derived from a common ancestor species.

* 2001 , Ross H. Nehm, 6: Linking Evolutionary Pattern and Development Process in Marginellid Gastropods'', Alan H. Cheetham, Jeremy B. C. Jackson, Scott Lidgard, Frank K. McKinney (editors), ''Evolutionary Patterns: Growth, Form, and Tempo in the Fossil Record , page 166,

All three clades containing Prunum'' and “''Volvarina ” species contain morphological features that do not collectively appear in any other living or fossil marginellid species (see above).

* 2002 , , page 1092,

No one has ever tabulated the number or percentage of non-trending clades' within larger monophyletic groups. The concept of a non-trending '''clade''' — the higher level analog of a species in stasis — has never been explicitly formulated at all. If only one percent of ' clades exhibited sustained trends, we would still focus our attention upon this tiny minority in telling our favored version of the story of life's history.

* 2004 September 11, Bob Holmes, Linnean naming system faces challengers'', ''New Scientist , page 13,

A clade is made up of an ancestral species and all its descendants; think of it as that part of an evolutionary tree that would fall off with a single saw cut.

(genetics) A higher level grouping of a genetic haplogroup.

Noun

(en noun)

A group or bunch of several discrete items that are close to each other.

a cluster of islands

* Spenser

Her deeds were like great clusters of ripe grapes, / Which load the bunches of the fruitful vine.

*{{quote-book, year=1907, author=

, chapter=7, title= The Dust of Conflict , passage=Then there was no more cover, for they straggled out, not in ranks but clusters , from among orange trees and tall, flowering shrubs

*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 29, author=Keith Jackson, work=Daily Record

, title= SPL: Celtic 1 Rangers 0 , passage=Charlie Mulgrew’s delicious deadball delivery was attacked by a cluster of green and white shirts at McGregor’s back post but Ledley got up higher and with more purpose than anyone else to thump a header home from five yards.}}

*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= William E. Conner

, title= An Acoustic Arms Race , volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.}}

A number of individuals grouped together or collected in one place; a crowd; a mob.

* Milton

As bees / Pour forth their populous youth about the hive / In clusters .

* Shakespeare

We loved him; but, like beasts / And cowardly nobles, gave way unto your clusters , / Who did hoot him out o' the city.

(astronomy) A group of galaxies or stars that appear near each other.

(music) A secundal chord of three or more notes.

(phonetics) A group of consonants.

(computing) A group of computers that work together.

(computing) A logical data storage unit containing one or more physical sectors (see block).

(statistics) A significant subset within a population.

(military) Set of bombs or mines.

(army) A small metal design that indicates that a medal has been awarded to the same person before.

An ensemble of bound atoms or molecules, intermediate in size between a molecule and a bulk solid.