![]() Applied to people, it suggests a noisy, undifferentiated mass, as in “Herds of students filled the hallways between classes.” Mob ![]() Herd is the equivalent of the French troupeau: a herd of elephants. It’s a great way to describe large numbers of people on the move, as in “They came in flocks.” It’s also commonly used as a verb: “People flocked to the show.” Herd The word crush conjures up a picture of people or animals all piled on top of each other, with a hint of violence, as in “He faced a crush of autograph seekers.” Just the thought of it makes your chest feel tight-which is probably why it’s also used to describe infatuation: “He has a crush on his teacher.” Flockįlock is the ordinary word for a collection of sheep or goats as well as for birds, especially in flight. The English covey is a direct descendent of the French word couvée and applies to a brood or flock of birds, but you can extend it to any group of people or any set of whatever you want.Ĭovey often has pejorative connotations and is most often attached to loud but otherwise impotent groups behaving like a brood of hungry chicks, as in “Our magazine explores the relationship between the artist’s work and the inevitable covey of critics and scholars who would rather judge a piece of art than simply enjoy it.” It can, however, be used with a certain affection: “He is a TV media star, always surrounded by a covey of adoring reporters.” Crush It’s popularly partnered with the words fun and money, as in “This game is bushels of fun” or “That man has bushels of money.” Covey In the plural it can be used for a large amount of anything. The first meaning of bushel is as a unit in the Imperial system of measurement, equivalent to four pecks or 0.036 cubic meters. At the time of writing, however, it showed only 733 hits for “bevy of men” and a measly 93 for “bevy of gentlemen.” In traditional use, bevy is used for quail, as in a “bevy of quail,” or roe deer, as in a “bevy of roes.” Bushels Bevy is a reasonably common way to refer to any decent-sized group, as in “the social committee was run by a bevy of busybodies.” It mainly designates groups of women-a Google search for “bevy of women,” “bevy of ladies,” and “bevy of beauties” turns up tens of thousands of hits for each.
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