flock
n. countablen. a large group of birds or sheep that stay together. You can also use it to describe a big group of people who follow the same leader or idea.
n. a group of animals, particularly birds or sheep, that congregate or travel together. Often applied metaphorically to a congregation of people under a specific leader or religious figure.
A large flock of birds flew over the field.
The shepherd used his dog to guide the flock of sheep through the narrow gate into the valley.
As the sun began to set, a massive flock of starlings performed a complex aerial dance before settling in the reeds for the night.
From Middle English flok, from Old English flocc (“flock, company, troop”), from Proto-West Germanic flokk, from Proto-Germanic flukkaz (“crowd, troop”). Cognate with German Low German Flock (“crowd, flock”), Danish flok (“flock”), Swedish flock (“flock”), Norwegian flokk (“flock”), Faroese flokkur (“flock”), Icelandic flokkur (“flock, group”). Related also to Norman fliotchet (“flock, crowd”), from Old Norse. Perhaps related to Old English folc (“crowd, troop, band”). More at folk.
From Middle English flok (“tuft of wool”), from Old French floc (“tuft of wool”), from Late Latin floccus (“tuft of wool”), probably from Frankish flokko (“down, wool, flock”), from Proto-Germanic flukkōn-, flukkan-, fluksōn- (“down, flock”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”). Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian flok (“hair”).
Commonly takes the preposition 'of' followed by the specific animal or group ('a flock of tourists').