| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| gang1 |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  g ng |
| NOUN: | 1. A group of criminals or hoodlums who band together for mutual protection and profit. 2. A group of adolescents who band together, especially a group of delinquents. 3. Informal A group of people who associate regularly on a social basis: The whole gang from the office went to a clambake. 4. A group of laborers organized together on one job or under one foreperson: a railroad gang. 5. A matched or coordinated set, as of tools: a gang of chisels. 6a. A pack of wolves or wild dogs. b. A herd, especially of buffalo or elk. See synonyms at flock1. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: ganged, gang·ing, gangs
| | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To band together as a group or gang. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To arrange or assemble into a group, as for simultaneous operation or production: gang several pages onto one printing plate. 2. To attack as an organized group. | | PHRASAL VERB: | gang up 1. To join together in opposition or attack: The older children were always ganging up on the little ones. 2. To act together as a group: various agencies ganging up to combat the use of illicit drugs. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, band of men, from Old English, journey, and Old Norse -gangr, journey, group (as in thjofagangr, gang of thieves).
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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