*floc*

n. [ L. floccus a flock of wool. Cf. Flock of wool. ] (Med.) A delirious picking of bedclothes by a sick person, as if to pick off flocks of wool; carphology; -- an alarming symptom in acute diseases. Dunglison. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. floccosus. Cf. 2d Flock, n. ] 1. Spotted with small tufts like wool. Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Having tufts of soft hairs, which are often deciduous. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the flocculus. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To convert into floccules or flocculent aggregates; to make granular or crumbly; as, the flocculating of a soil improves its mechanical condition.

When applied to clay soils it [ lime ] binds the small particles together, or flocculates them. I. P. Roberts. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Flocculated; p. pr. & vb. n. Flocculating. ] (Geol.) To aggregate into small lumps. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Furnished with tufts of curly hairs, as some insects. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Geol.) 1. The process by which small particles of fine soils and sediments aggregate into larger lumps. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The process or event in which masses of a solid substance of perceptible size form in a liquid by aggregation of smaller particles, and usually sediment to the bottom of the containing vessel; as, addition of a cationic polymer can cause flocculation of a negatively charged colloidal suspension. [ PJC ]

n. [ See Flocculus. ] 1. A detached mass of loosely fibrous structure like a shredded tuft of wool. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. (Chem.) Specif.: A small particle of an insoluble substance formed in a liquid by the union of smaller particles. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The state of being flocculent. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Flock of wool. ] 1. Clothed with small flocks or flakes; woolly. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Applied to the down of newly hatched or unfledged birds. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Chem.) Having a structure like shredded wool, as some precipitates. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖n.; pl. Flocculi [ NL., dim. of L. floccus a lock or flock of wool. ] (Anat.) A small lobe in the under surface of the cerebellum, near the middle peduncle; the subpeduncular lobe. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Flocci [ L., a flock of wool. ] 1. (Zool.) (a) The tuft of hair terminating the tail of mammals. (b) A tuft of feathers on the head of young birds. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) A woolly filament sometimes occuring with the sporules of certain fungi. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Flocked p. pr. & vb. n. Flocking. ] To gather in companies or crowds. [ 1913 Webster ]

Friends daily flock. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Flocking fowl (Zool.), the greater scaup duck. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To flock to; to crowd. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Good fellows, trooping, flocked me so. Taylor (1609). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. flocc flock, company; akin to Icel. flokkr crowd, Sw. flock, Dan. flok; prob. orig. used of flows, and akin to E. fly. See Fly. ] 1. A company or collection of living creatures; -- especially applied to sheep and birds, rarely to persons or (except in the plural) to cattle and other large animals; as, a flock of ravenous fowl. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The heathen . . . came to Nicanor by flocks. 2 Macc. xiv. 14. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A Christian church or congregation; considered in their relation to the pastor, or minister in charge. [ 1913 Webster ]

As half amazed, half frighted all his flock. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. flokke; cf. D. vlok, G. flocke, OHG. floccho, Icel. flōki, perh. akin to E. flicker, flacker, or cf. L. floccus, F. floc. ] 1. A lock of wool or hair. [ 1913 Webster ]

I prythee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put a few flocks in the point [ pommel ]. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Woolen or cotton refuse (sing. or pl.), old rags, etc., reduced to a degree of fineness by machinery, and used for stuffing unpholstered furniture. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Very fine, sifted, woolen refuse, especially that from shearing the nap of cloths, used as a coating for wall paper to give it a velvety or clothlike appearance; also, the dust of vegetable fiber used for a similar purpose. [ 1913 Webster ]

Flock bed, a bed filled with flocks or locks of coarse wool, or pieces of cloth cut up fine. “Once a flock bed, but repaired with straw.” Pope. --
Flock paper, paper coated with flock fixed with glue or size. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To coat with flock, as wall paper; to roughen the surface of (as glass) so as to give an appearance of being covered with fine flock. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A lamb. [ Obs. ] Brome (1659). [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In flocks; in crowds. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ AS. flocm&unr_;lum. See Meal part. ] In a flock; in a body. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

That flockmel on a day they to him went. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]