What is the difference between swarm and flock?
swarm | flock | Synonyms |
A large number of insects, especially when in motion or (for bees) migrating to a new colony.
* Milton
A mass of people, animals or things in motion or turmoil.
* Addison
(label) A group of nodes sharing the same torrent in a BitTorrent network.
(lb) To move as a swarm .
*
*:There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors.
(lb) To teem, or be overrun with insects, people, etc.
*(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
*:Every place swarms with soldiers.
(lb) To fill a place as a swarm .
(lb) To overwhelm as by an opposing army.
To climb by gripping with arms and legs alternately.
* (1748–1828)
*:At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it.
*1919 , , (The Moon and Sixpence) ,
*:She called out, and a boy came running along. He swarmed up a tree, and presently threw down a ripe nut. Ata pierced a hole in it, and the doctor took a long, refreshing draught.
To breed multitudes.
*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
*:Not so thick swarmed once the soil / Bedropped with blood of Gorgon.
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)
* Tennyson
A large number of people.
* Bible, 2 Macc. xiv. 14
To congregate in or head towards a place in large numbers.
* Dryden
(obsolete) To flock to; to crowd.
* 1609 , Taylor
To treat a pool with chemicals to remove suspended particles.
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.
Flock is a synonym of swarm.
In intransitive terms the difference between swarm and flock
is that swarm is to teem, or be overrun with insects, people, etc while flock is to congregate in or head towards a place in large numbers.In transitive terms the difference between swarm and flock
is that swarm is to overwhelm as by an opposing army while flock is to coat a surface with dense fibers or particles.swarm
English
Noun
(en noun)- a deadly swarm of hornets
- a swarm of meteorites
- those prodigious swarms that had settled themselves in every part of it [Italy]
Verb
(en verb)See also
*Anagrams
* (l) English collective nounsflock
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) . More at (l).Noun
(en noun)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. }}
- As half amazed, half frighted all his flock .
- The heathen came to Nicanor by flocks .
Synonyms
* congregation, bunch, gaggle, horde, host, legion, litter, nest, rabble, swarm, throng, wakeVerb
(en verb)- People flocked to the cinema to see the new film.
- Friends daily flock .
- Good fellows, trooping, flocked me so.