I. ˈgaŋ, ˈgaiŋ noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German gang act of going, Old Norse gangr act of going, Gothic gang street, Greek kochōnē perineum, Sanskrit jaṅghā shank
1. : the act, manner, or means of going : passage , course , journey ; also : gait
2.
a. dialect chiefly Britain
(1) : passage , way , road , lane
(2) : a pasturage for cattle
b. chiefly Scotland : journey ; especially : one undertaken to perform an errand
c. chiefly Scotland : the amount (as of wood, water, or peat) that can be carried at one time or in one trip
3.
a.
(1) : a set or full complement of articles : outfit
a gang of oars
(2) : a combination of similar implements or other items arranged so as to act together to save time or labor
a gang of saws
or to produce in one operation or as one unit
a gang of printing plates printing several jobs on a single sheet
b. : a number of individuals making up a group: as
(1) : a group of persons working under the same direction or at the same task
migrants … laboring in gangs in the woods, mines, and fields — American Guide Series: Washington
gangs of expert bottomers — B.H.Sprague
(2) : a company of criminals
a gang of desperate banditti — Tobias Smollett
squealed on the other members of the gang
(3) : an elementary and close-knit social group of spontaneous origin ; especially : such a unit composed of antisocial adolescents
teenage gangs
(4) : a group of persons acting in accord who are believed to engage in improper acts or to be influenced by self-seeking, corrupt, or unworthy motives
made captive by the gang which seized power — A.H.Sulzberger
denounced the musical gang then in power — Virgil Thomson
a political gang … dragged out the racial issue to divert attention from itself — Oscar Handlin
(5) : a group of congenial persons having close and informal social relations : a group of persons drawn together by a community of tastes, interests, or activity
one of a gang that call one another great — O.W.Holmes †1935
invite the gang plus some pretty girls — Dorothy Bradbury
where's the gang going tonight
the gang in the office
(6) : a flock or herd of animals
a gang of little chickens — J.H.Stuart
a gang of elk
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to attack (a person) as a gang
young hoodlums … always gang you — W.R.Burnett
try to gang him and take it away from him — Springfield (Massachusetts) Union
2.
a. : to assemble or operate (mechanical or electronic parts) simultaneously as a group
circuits ganged together by gears
b. : to arrange in or produce as a gang (as type pages or printed sheets) — often used with up
intransitive verb
: to form a group or gang : keep company : go , travel
empty-headed, idle-handed widows who gang together — Henry Miller
gangs with those kids on the next block
— often used with up
the boys would gang up around the corner drugstore
III. intransitive verb
Etymology: Middle English gangen to go, walk, from Old English gangan; akin to Old High German gangan to go, Old Norse ganga, Gothic gaggan to go, Old English gang act of going
Scotland : go
IV.
variant of gangue