Forms: 1 flocc, 2–4 floc, Orm. flocc, 3 south. vloc, (3 floch), 3–6 flok(e, 4–5 flokk(e, 4–7 flocke, 3– flock. [OE. flocc = ON. flokkr (Sw. flock, Da. flok).
Not found in the other Teut. langs. The etymology is obscure. As both in OE. and ON. the word means only an assemblage of persons, it can hardly be connected with FLY v.; the hypothesis that it is cognate with FOLK is satisfactory with regard to meaning, but its phonological admissibility is doubtful.]
1. A band, body, or company (of persons). Now only as transf. from 2 or 3.
O. E. Chron., an. 894. Hi [MS. him] mon eac mid oþrum floccum sohte.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xxxii. 8. Gif Esau cymþ to anum flocce & þone ofslihþ, se oþer flocc byþ ȝehealden.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 3. Moni of þan floc manna þe earþon fulieden ure drihten.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 162. Ne þunche þe neuer god among monne floc.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 536. Fynd foure freres in a flok · þat folweþ þat rewle.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. clxiv. 203. They parceyued a flocke of men of armes commynge togyder right werely.
1609. Bible (Douay), 1 Sam. x. 5. Thou shalt meete there a flocke of prophetes coming downe from the excelse.
1822. Shelley, Triumph Life, 264.
| The world was darkened beneath either pinion | |
| Of him whom from the flock of conquerors | |
| Fame singled out for her thunder-bearing minion. |
b. pl. used to indicate: Great numbers, ‘swarms.’
1535. Coverdale, 2 Macc. xiv. 14. Then the Heithen which fled out of Iewry from Iudas, came to Nicanor by flockes, thinkynge the harme and decaye of the Iewes to be their welfare.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. 443. The Sacerdotall Universitie of Spaine, whence springeth these Flockes of Studientes, that over-swarme the whole Land with Rogueries, Robberies, and Begging.
2. A number of animals of one kind, feeding or travelling in company. Now chiefly applied to an assemblage of birds (esp. geese) or (as in sense 3) of sheep or goats; in other applications commonly superseded by herd, swarm, etc.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 39. Þe deules beden ure louerd ihesu crist þat he hem sende into floc of swin.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1964 (Gött.).
| Alsua ȝe ete of na fiss ellis, | |
| Bot þat in flock and herd duellis. |
1480. Caxton, Descr. Brit., 41.
| Ther is a pole at brechnok, | |
| Therin of fish is many a flok. |
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 152. If I do not beate thee out of thy Kingdome with a dagger of Lath, and driue all thy Subiects afore thee like a flocke of Wilde-geese, Ile neuer weare haire on my face more.
1614. Raleigh, Hist. World, II. V. v. § 8. 602. Adjoyning unto these, were sixteene Elephants together in one flocke.
1665. Hooke, Microgr., 205. I found whole flocks of the same kind [mites] running to and fro among the small groves and thickets of green moss.
1690. Moral Ess. Pres. Times, iii. 48. Instead of meeting a Flight of Pidgeons, he encounter’d a Flock of Lions, who made a shift to destroy many Thousands of the Irish Wolves he sent to take that Town.
1839. trans. Lamartine’s Trav. East, 102/1. Glades, where we saw flocks of camels and goats browsing.
1875. C. F. Wood, Yachting Cruise, iv. 91–2. Flocks of pigeons and parrots were fluttering about in the branches overhead, busily engaged in devouring the berries.
b. transf.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 120. Her aȝeines wreððe monie kunnes remedies, & frouren a muche vloc.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., I. i. 36.
| How will she loue, when the rich golden shaft | |
| Hath kill’d the flocke of all affections else | |
| That liue in her. |
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., To the Reader. Who is not sensible with sorrow of the distractions of this age: To write books therefore may seem unseasonable, especially in a time wherein the Presse, like an unruly horse, hath cast off his bridle of being Licensed, and some serious books, which dare flie abroad, are hooted at by a flock of Pamphlets.
1775. J. Adams, in Fam. Lett. (1876), 100. Fire, sword, pestilence, famine, often keep company and visit a country in a flock.
1805. Wordsw., Prelude, III. 33.
| Gowns, grave, or gaudy, doctors, students, streets, | |
| Courts, cloisters, flocks of churches, gateways, towers. |
3. esp. A number of domestic animals (chiefly, and now exclusively, of sheep or goats) kept together under the charge of one or more persons. Often used vaguely in pl. for (a person’s) possessions in sheep; esp. in flocks and herds = sheep and cattle.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3819 (Cott.).
| Iacob went him forth his wai, | |
| Faand quare thre floks o beistes lai, | |
| Be-side a well. |
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 5891.
| Lo! I sal aske my flok of shepe | |
| Of þe hird þat had þam undir his hand. |
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 167/2. Floke of bestys.
c. 1450. Mirour Saluacioun, 3529.
| The fonden shepe on his shuldres laid he & broght to flokke | |
| When on his bakke for our synne of the crosse he bare the stokke. |
1600. Shaks., As You Like It, II. iv. 83.
| Besides his Coate, his Flockes, and bounds of feede | |
| Are now on sale. |
1725. Pope, Odyss., IX. 288.
| He next betakes him to his evening cares, | |
| And, sitting down, to milk his flocks prepares. |
1810. Scott, Lady of L., III. viii.
| ’Twas all prepared: and from the rock | |
| A goat, the patriarch of the flock, | |
| Before the kindling pile was laid, | |
| And pierced by Roderick’s ready blade. |
1815. Elphinstone, Acc. Caubul (1842), I. 305. The increase both of men and flocks soon occasions disputes about the right to pasture on particular tracts.
transf. and fig. 1751. Affect. Narr. Wager, 141. The Crew … he should have consider’d as a Flock, whereof he had undertaken the Care.
1820. Shelley, Witch Atl., x.
| And every nymph of stream and spreading tree, | |
| And every shepherdess of Ocean’s flocks, | |
| Who drives her white waves over the green sea, | |
| And Ocean, with the brine of his gray locks. |
4. fig. a. In spiritual sense, of a body or the whole body of Christians, in relation to Christ as the ‘Chief Shepherd,’ or of a congregation in relation to its pastor.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, xxviii. 1. Apostils þat ware ledirs of godis floke.
1393. Gower, Conf., Prol. I. 16.
| Christes folde, | |
| Wherof the flocke without guide | |
| Deuour’d is on euery side. |
c. 1440. York Myst., xxvii. 146. The flokke schall be full fayne to flee.
1588. J. Udall, Demonstr. Discip. (Arb.), 26. A shepheard hath a flocke to the ende to feed it continually: The minister is a shepheard, and his charge a flocke: Therefore he ought to feed it continually, and consequently to be perpetually resident, for how can he feed them from whom he is absent.
1611. Bible, 1 Pet. v. 2. Feede the flocke of God which is among you.
1641. Milton, Reform., 4. He that, enabled with gifts from God, and the lawful and primitive choice of the church assembled in convenient number, faithfully from that time forward feeds his parochial flock, has his coequal and compresbyterial power to ordain ministers and deacons by public prayer, and vote of Christ’s congregation in like sort as he himself was ordained, and is a true apostolic bishop.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, I. x. 296. The Father-director and his flock seemed perfectly to understand each other.
1865. Mrs. Gaskell, Cousin Phillis, 40. Late in the evening the minister came home from Homby. He had been calling on the different members of his flock; and unsatisfactory work it had proved to him, it seemed from the fragments that dropped out of his thoughts into his talk.
b. Occasionally applied to any body of persons under the charge or guidance of some one; e.g., to a family of children in relation to their parents.
5. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., as flock district, farm; b. objective, as flock-feeder; c. instrumental, as flock-fed, -nibbled adjs. Also, flock-duck (U.S.), a scaup-duck; flock-feeding, the habit of feeding in flocks; flock-man, a shepherd (Cent. Dict.); flock-master, an owner or overseer of a flock; a sheep-farmer; flock-rake Sc. (see quot.).
1795. Scots Mag., LVII. 480/1. The recent loss of sheep, after shearing, in the *flock districts.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric., II. 238. Where lands of this description are attached to *flock farms.
1800. Hurdis, The Favourite Village, 2.
| The proud eminence, whose steep, | |
| For ever *flock-fed, shelters his lov’d elms | |
| Scatter’d wherever in the vale below. |
1545. Joye, Exp. Dan. v. I iij b. To maintayne the superfluouse excesse and viciouse lyuing of ydle bisshops, preistis and monkis, the trewe *flokfeders neglected, studyes and scoles not conserued.
1893. G. D. Leslie, Lett. to Marco, iii. 19–20. This *flock-feeding saves a lot of time spent in looking out for danger, as the multitude of eyes in the skirmishing party affords mutual safety to all, whereas the solitary bird has to keep his eyes on the look-out for his prey and his foes at the same time.
1798. Sporting Mag., XI. March, 307/1. The *Flock-masters of the South Downs, Norfolk, and Suffolk, look for a large fall of Lambs.
1883. Times, 19 May, 5. Many of … the flockmasters … have upwards of 10,000 sheep.
1800. Hurdis, The Favourite Village, 107.
| On each blade | |
| Of the *flock-nibbled field it hangs serene | |
| In brilliant dew-drops, twinkling bright as stars. |
1809. R. Kerr, Agric. Surv. Berwicksh., vi. § 2. 179. Very large pastures, provincially termed *flock rakes.
