gang
1a group or band: A gang of boys gathered around the winning pitcher.
a group of youngsters or adolescents who associate closely, often exclusively, for social reasons, especially such a group engaging in delinquent behavior.
a group of people with compatible tastes or mutual interests who gather together for social reasons: I'm throwing a party for the gang I bowl with.
a group of persons associated for some criminal or other antisocial purpose: a gang of thieves.
a set of tools, electronic components or circuits, oars, etc., arranged to work together or simultaneously.
a group of identical or related items.
to arrange in groups or sets; form into a gang: to gang illustrations for more economical printing on one sheet.
to attack in a gang.
to form or act as a gang: Cutthroats who gang together hang together.
gang up on, Informal. (of a number of persons) to unite in opposition to (a person); combine against: The bigger boys ganged up on the smaller ones in the schoolyard.
Origin of gang
1Other words for gang
Other definitions for gang (2 of 2)
to walk or go.
Origin of gang
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use gang in a sentence
They are, to say the least, preparing for civil war (the polling stations are stormed by armed gangs).
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President | Pierre Assouline | January 9, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThe End of Gangs By Sam Quinones, Pacific-Standard Los Angeles gave America the modern street gang.
The Daily Beast’s Best Longreads, Dec 29-Jan 4, 2014 | William Boot | January 4, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThat goodness steered him clear of the Sex Boys, the Crazy Homicides, the Sons of Nuns, and the other gangs of East New York.
Virtually all the southwestern gangs of Mexican heritage (Surenos or Southsiders) are under their control.
The Mexican Mafia Is the Daddy of All Street Gangs | Seth Ferranti | December 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThat is where the subordinate gangs like Big Hazard come in.
The Mexican Mafia Is the Daddy of All Street Gangs | Seth Ferranti | December 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Fresh gangs manned the sweeps and the riders on the eastern bank eased their pace to a walk.
The Red Year | Louis TracyNow and then I passed gangs of workmen making ditches and trenches, repairing railroad tracks and laying new ones.
Ways of War and Peace | Delia AustrianWith the coming of the clearing gangs, Will joined his two brothers at the work, leaving only fourteen-year-old Babe at school.
Mountain | Clement WoodThe spoke is made in two pieces, at two different forges, and by two distinct gangs of men.
The Hills and the Vale | Richard JefferiesIt was a hanging matter; but here at Bubastis their dams and banks were raised by working gangs of such criminals.
Sarchedon | G. J. (George John) Whyte-Melville
British Dictionary definitions for gang (1 of 3)
/ (ɡæŋ) /
a group of people who associate together or act as an organized body, esp for criminal or illegal purposes
an organized group of workmen
a herd of buffaloes or elks or a pack of wild dogs
NZ a group of shearers who travel to different shearing sheds, shearing, classing, and baling wool
a series of similar tools arranged to work simultaneously in parallel
(as modifier): a gang saw
to form into, become part of, or act as a gang
(tr) electronics to mount (two or more components, such as variable capacitors) on the same shaft, permitting adjustment by a single control
Origin of gang
1- See also gang up
Derived forms of gang
- ganged, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for gang (2 of 3)
/ (ɡæŋ) /
Scot to go
Origin of gang
2British Dictionary definitions for gang (3 of 3)
/ (ɡæŋ) /
a variant spelling of gangue
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with gang
In addition to the idiom beginning with gang
- gang up
also see:
- like gangbusters
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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