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gang 1 (găng)
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n.
1. A group of criminals or hoodlums who band together for mutual protection and profit.
2. A group of adolescents who band together, especially a group of delinquents.
3. Informal A group of people who associate regularly on a social basis: The whole gang from the office went to a clambake.
4. A group of laborers organized together on one job or under one foreperson: a railroad gang.
5. A matched or coordinated set, as of tools: a gang of chisels.
6.
a. A pack of wolves or wild dogs.
b. A herd, especially of buffalo or elk.
v. ganged, gang·ing, gangs
v.intr.
To band together as a group or gang.
v.tr.
1. To arrange or assemble into a group, as for simultaneous operation or production: gang several pages onto one printing plate.
2. To attack as an organized group.
Phrasal Verb:
gang up
1. To join together in opposition or attack: The older children were always ganging up on the little ones.
2. To act together as a group: various agencies ganging up to combat the use of illicit drugs.

[Middle English, band of men, from Old English, journey, and Old Norse -gangr, journey, group (as in thjofagangr, gang of thieves).]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
gang 2 (găng)
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n.
Variant of gangue.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.