Flock vs Clutter - What's the difference?

Flock is a related term of clutter.

In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between flock and clutter

is that flock is (obsolete) to flock to; to crowd while clutter is (obsolete) clatter; confused noise.

As nouns the difference between flock and clutter

is that flock is a large number of birds, especially those gathered together for the purpose of migration or flock can be coarse tufts of wool or cotton used in bedding while clutter is a confused disordered jumble of things.

As verbs the difference between flock and clutter

is that flock is to congregate in or head towards a place in large numbers or flock can be to coat a surface with dense fibers or particles while clutter is to fill something with.

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.

clutter

English

Noun

(-)

A confused disordered jumble of things.

* L'Estrange

He saw what a clutter there was with huge, overgrown pots, pans, and spits.

*{{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=Nonetheless, some insect prey take advantage of clutter' by hiding in it. 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.}}

(obsolete) Clatter; confused noise.

(Jonathan Swift)

Background echos, from clouds etc., on a radar or sonar screen.

(countable) A group of cats;

* 2008 , John Robert Colombo, The Big Book of Canadian Ghost Stories , Introduction

Organizing ghost stories is like herding a clutter of cats: the phenomenon resists organization and classification.

Derived terms

* surface clutter * volume clutter

Verb

(en verb)

To fill something with .

*{{quote-magazine, title=No hiding place

, date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%. That means about $165 billion was spent not on drumming up business, but on annoying people, creating landfill and cluttering spam filters.}}

(obsolete) To clot or coagulate, like blood.

(Holland)

To make a confused noise; to bustle.

* Tennyson

It [the goose] cluttered here, it chuckled there.

(Webster 1913)