Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FLOCK, n. [Sax. floce; L. floccus; G. flocke; D. vlock; Dan. flok; Sw. flock, a crowd; ulle-lock, wool-lock; Gr. πλοκη, πλοκος; Russ. klok. It is the same radically as flake and applied to wool or hair, we write it lock. See Flake.]

1. A company or collection; applied to sheep and other small animals. A flock of sheep answers to a herd of larger cattle. But the word may sometimes perhaps be applied to larger beasts; and in the plural, flocks may include all kinds of domesticated animals.
2. A company or collection of fowls of any kind, and when applied to birds on the wing, a flight; as, a flock of wild-geese; a flock of ducks; a flock of blackbirds. In the United States, flocks of wild pigeons sometimes darken the air.
3. A body or crowd of people. [Little used. Qu. Gr. λοχος, a troop.]
4. A lock of wool or hair. Hence, a flock bed.