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Flock vs Crowd - What's the difference?

flock | crowd |

Crowd is a synonym of flock.



In intransitive terms the difference between flock and crowd

is that flock is to congregate in or head towards a place in large numbers while crowd is to press together or collect in numbers; to swarm; to throng.

In transitive terms the difference between flock and crowd

is that flock is to coat a surface with dense fibers or particles while crowd is to press by solicitation; to urge; to dun; hence, to treat discourteously or unreasonably.

flock

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . More at (l).

Noun

(en noun)
  • A large number of birds, especially those gathered together for the purpose of migration.
  • A large number of animals, especially sheep or goats kept together.
  • Those served by a particular pastor or shepherd.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1995 , author=Green Key Books , title=God's Word to the Nations (John 10:16) citation , passage=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. }}
  • * Tennyson
    • As half amazed, half frighted all his flock .
  • A large number of people.
  • * Bible, 2 Macc. xiv. 14
    • The heathen came to Nicanor by flocks .
    Synonyms
    * congregation, bunch, gaggle, horde, host, legion, litter, nest, rabble, swarm, throng, wake

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To congregate in or head towards a place in large numbers.
    • People flocked to the cinema to see the new film.
  • * Dryden
    • Friends daily flock .
  • (obsolete) To flock to; to crowd.
  • * 1609 , Taylor
    • Good fellows, trooping, flocked me so.
  • To treat a pool with chemicals to remove suspended particles.

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Coarse tufts of wool or cotton used in bedding
  • A lock of wool or hair.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:I prythee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put a few flocks in the point [pommel].
  • 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.
  • *
  • *: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.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To coat a surface with dense fibers or particles.

    • crowd

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . Cognate with Dutch kruien.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To press forward; to advance by pushing.
    • The man crowded into the packed room.
  • To press together or collect in numbers; to swarm; to throng.
    • They crowded through the archway and into the park.
  • * Addison:
    • The whole company crowded about the fire.
  • * Macaulay:
    • Images came crowding on his mind faster than he could put them into words.
  • To press or drive together, especially into a small space; to cram.
    • He tried to crowd too many cows into the cow-pen.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Crowd us and crush us.
  • To fill by pressing or thronging together.
  • * Prescott
    • The balconies and verandas were crowded with spectators, anxious to behold their future sovereign.
  • To push, to press, to shove.
    • tried to crowd her off the sidewalk
  • * 2006 , Lanna Nakone, Every Child Has a Thinking Style (ISBN 0399532463), page 73:
    • Alexis's mementos and numerous dance trophies were starting to crowd her out of her little bedroom.
  • (nautical) To approach another ship too closely when it has right of way.
  • To carry excessive sail in the hope of moving faster.
  • To press by solicitation; to urge; to dun; hence, to treat discourteously or unreasonably.
    • Derived terms
    * crowd control * crowd manipulation * crowd out * crowd psychology * crowd sail

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A group of people congregated or collected into a close body without order.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Athelstan Arundel walked homeHe walked the whole way, walking through crowds , and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.
  • *
  • *:He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance.she found her mother standing up before the seat on which she had sat all the evening searching anxiously for her with her eyes, and her father by her side.
  • Several things collected or closely pressed together; also, some things adjacent to each other.
  • :
  • (lb) The so-called lower orders of people; the populace, vulgar.
  • * (1809-1892)
  • *:To fool the crowd with glorious lies.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:He went not with the crowd to see a shrine.
  • A group of people united or at least characterised by a common interest.
  • :
    • Synonyms
    * (group of things) aggregation, cluster, group, mass * (group of people) audience, group, multitude, public, swarm, throng * (the "lower orders" of people) everyone, general public, masses, rabble, mob, unwashed
    Derived terms
    * crowd catch * crowd-pleaser * crowd-puller * work the crowd

    Etymology 2

    Celtic, from Welsh crwth.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A crwth, an Ancient Celtic plucked string instrument.
  • * Ben Jonson
    • A lackey that can warble upon a crowd a little.
  • (now dialectal) A fiddle.
  • * 1819': wandering palmers, hedge-priests, Saxon minstrels, and Welsh bards, were muttering prayers, and extracting mistuned dirges from their harps, '''crowds , and rotes. — Walter Scott, ''Ivanhoe
  • * 1684': That keep their consciences in cases, / As fiddlers do with ' crowds and bases — Samuel Butler, "Hudibras"

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To play on a crowd; to fiddle.
  • * Massinger
    • Fiddlers, crowd on.

    References

    (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

    *