Collective Noun
Matthew White
collective noun for a group of chickens!
Can anyone help. I am convinved that it is not a flock but am willing to be
proved wrong.
Thanks
Matt
James Silverton
I don't remember hearing any collective noun for chickens other than
flock. I don't think "battery" (apologies to chicken's rights people)
has been used, appropriate tho' it might be.
James V. Silverton
Potomac, Maryland.
Andrew Losowsky
the
> collective noun for a group of chickens!
A murder of crows, an exaltation of larks, a muster of peacocks... but
chickens I do not know. May I humbly suggest a cluck.
Perhaps, though, given this newsgroup's penchant for old jokes, maybe a
pedestrian of chickens would be more apt.
Yours, headless,
A.
Jack Gavin
James Silverton wrote in message <379B759F...@erols.com>...
>Matthew White wrote:
>>
>> I know this is fairly pointless but I got myself into an argument about
the
>> collective noun for a group of chickens!
>>
be
>> proved wrong.
>
>I don't remember hearing any collective noun for chickens other than
>flock. I don't think "battery" (apologies to chicken's rights people)
>has been used, appropriate tho' it might be.
>
(Well, it's better than a "bucket-o-chickens"!)
But seriously, http://thunder.sonic.net/~melissk/beastly.html suggests "A
brood (peep) of chickens". (I take it that "brood" and "peep" are
alternatives.)
--
Jack Gavin
Opinicus
collection of eggs or newly-hatched chicks.
I too have this feeling that there's another collective noun for
chickens--or possibly for hens--but it eludes me at the moment.
Bob
Jack Gavin <jackgavi...@home.com> wrote in message
news:9bOm3.78044$eF3....@news.rdc1.nj.home.com...
Red Valerian
<loso...@email.com> wrote:
>> I know this is fairly pointless but I got myself into an argument about
>the collective noun for a group of chickens! A murder of crows, an exaltation
>of larks, a muster of peacocks... but chickens I do not know. May I humbly
>suggest a cluck.
>
>Perhaps, though, given this newsgroup's penchant for old jokes, maybe a
>pedestrian of chickens would be more apt.
>
>Yours, headless,
>
>A.
>
Just found these doing a search on Altavista under Collective Nouns:
Species Collective Term
(most usual first)
Birds Volery
Bitterns Sedge, Siege
Bustards Flock
Capercaillies Tok
Chickens Brood, Peep
Choughs Chattering, Clattering
Coots Covert, Raft
Cormorants Flight
Cranes Sedge, Siege
Crows Murder, Hover
Curlews Herd
Doves Flight, Dole, Dule, Pitying, Prettying
Ducks Flush, Team
(diving) dopping
(in flight) plump
(on water) Paddling
Dunlin Fling
Eagles Convocation
Falcons Cast
Finches Trimming, Trembling
Geese (at rest) Gaggle, Flock, Nide
(in flight) Skein
Goldfinches Charm, Chattering, Drum, Troubling
Goshawks Flight
Grouse Covey
Guillemots Bazaar
Gulls Colony, Pack
Hawks Cast, Leash, Kettle
Hens Brood
Herons Sedge, Siege
Hummingbirds Charm, Chattering, Drum, Troubling
Jays Band, Party
Lapwings Desert, Deceit
Larks Exultation, Bevy
Magpies Tittering, Tiding
Mallards Sord
(on land) Flush, Sute
(on water) Puddling
Martens Richness
Nightingales Match, Watch
Owls Parliament, Stare
Parrots Flock
Partridges Covey, Bew
Peacocks Muster, Ostentation, Pride
Penguins Colony, Rookery
Pheasants Nye, Bouquet
Pigeons Flight, Flock
Plovers Congregation, Leash, Wing
Quail Bevy, Covey
Ravens Unkindness, Conspiracy
Rooks Parliament, Building, Clamour
Ruffs Hill
Sheldrakes Dopping, Doading
Snipe (at rest) Walk
(in flight) Wisp
Sparrows Host, Quarrel, Tribe
Starlings Murmuration
Storks Mustering
Swallows Flight
Swans Herd, Bank, Bevy, Game, Squadron, Wedge, Whiteness
Swifts Flock
Teal Spring, Coil, Knob, Raft
Trushes Mutation
Turkeys Flock, Dole, Dule, Raffle, Raft, Rafter
Turtledoves Pitying
Waterfowl Plump
Widgeon Company, Bunch, Coil, Knob
Wildfowl Trip
Woodcock Fall, Covey, Plump
Woodpeckers Descent
Wrens Herd
Red
PS - I found these at: http://www.matrix.clara.net/nouns/birds.html
PPS - my personal favourite has always been an osentation of peacocks,
but having seen this list, that's now tied with a murmuration of
starlings and a pitying of turtledoves.