gang

noun

Save Word

\ ˈgaŋ

plural gangs

Definition of gang

(Entry 1 of 3)

1 : group: such as

a : a group of persons working to unlawful or antisocial ends especially : a band of antisocial adolescents

b : a group of persons working together

2 : a group of persons having informal and usually close social relations watching TV with the gang

3a : a set of articles : outfit a gang of oars

b : a combination of similar implements or devices arranged for convenience to act together a gang of saws

gang

verb (1)

ganged; ganging; gangs

Definition of gang (Entry 2 of 3)

intransitive verb

: to move or act as a gang Her opponents ganged together to oppose her nomination. — see also gang up

transitive verb

1 : to attack (a person) as a gang They ganged him and took his money.

2a : to assemble (mechanical or electronic parts) so that they may be operated simultaneously as a group Potentiometers are often ganged together so that the resistance in several circuits can be changed simultaneously.— Richard Fowler

b : to arrange or produce (something, such as pages of typeset material) together as a unit … ganged the printing of 2000 cards to achieve a cost-efficient price per card of 38 cents.— Vilma Barr — often used with up Where decals are large they may be printed singly; where small, more than one may be ganged up on one screen to save effort and to produce more copies in one impression.— Albert Kosloff

gang

verb (2)

ganged; ganging; gangs

Definition of gang (Entry 3 of 3)

intransitive verb

Scotland

: go

Synonyms More Example Sentences Phrases Containing gang Learn More About gang

Examples of gang in a Sentence

Noun a gang of drug dealers He is in a gang. He was shot by a member of a rival gang. the gang at the office

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun When did Phoenix police chief know of gang charges? — Endia Fontanez, The Arizona Republic, 13 May 2022 The apparent surge in migrants comes as the country — one of the poorest in the world — has seen violent gang fights leave hundreds displaced and dozens killed and injured in its capital city, according to the United Nations. — Tim Stelloh, NBC News, 13 May 2022 Gunna, whose real name is Sergio Kitchens, was charged in Monday’s sweeping indictment against Young Thug and dozens of other alleged members of the gang Young Slime Life. — Bill Donahue, Billboard, 12 May 2022 Atlanta rapper Gunna, who was named Monday along with fellow rapper Young Thug in a sweeping gang indictment, is now behind bars in Fulton County. — Chelsea Prince, ajc, 11 May 2022 Prosecutors allege that Young Thug, real name Jeffery Williams, founded the gang Young Slime Life in late 2012 and was a key figure in various YSL activities. — Leah Asmelash, CNN, 11 May 2022 But in scanning the document, prosecutors appeared to rely heavily on social media posts and song lyrics to paint Williams as a violent gang figure. — Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 10 May 2022 In recent months, clashes between 400 Mawozo and a rival gang have displaced thousands and killed dozens of civilians. — Washington Post, 10 May 2022 Rapper Young Thug mugshot, after his May 9, 2022 arrest on racketeering and street gang charges. — CBS News, 10 May 2022 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Barbaro, who has modeled phenomena ranging from fish migrations to gang territorial disputes, says the Pamplona data could help calibrate models for stressed crowds to aid architectural design and evacuation planning. — Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 23 Feb. 2022 Above all, the event serves as a venue for face-to-face connections among collectors – a place to gang together for wrist shots – that will be extra intense this year due to pent up desire after missing a year because of Covid. — Carol Besler, Forbes, 21 Oct. 2021 For Nirbhaya's mother, justice is death for the men who gang raped her daughter. — Vedika Sud, CNN, 19 Mar. 2020 Jang features in the names of many quintessential Korean ingredients, such as ganging (soy sauce), gochujang (chili paste) and doenjang (soybean paste). — Katie Workman, NBC News, 8 Mar. 2020 And yet the oscillators responded differently to identical conditions, some ganging together while the rest went their own way, as if not coupled to anything at all. — Natalie Wolchover, WIRED, 7 Apr. 2019 And yet the oscillators responded differently to identical conditions, some ganging together while the rest went their own way, as if not coupled to anything at all. — Natalie Wolchover, WIRED, 7 Apr. 2019 And yet the oscillators responded differently to identical conditions, some ganging together while the rest went their own way, as if not coupled to anything at all. — Natalie Wolchover, WIRED, 7 Apr. 2019 And yet the oscillators responded differently to identical conditions, some ganging together while the rest went their own way, as if not coupled to anything at all. — Natalie Wolchover, WIRED, 7 Apr. 2019 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gang.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for gang

Noun

Middle English, "going, journey, road, path, privy, group of items forming a set," going back to Old English, "going, walking, journey, course, path, privy," going back to Germanic *ganga- (whence Old Saxon gang "walk, course," Old High German "walk, journey, passage," Old Norse gangr "going, course," Gothic gagg "way"), noun derivative from the base of *gangan- "to go" — more at gang entry 3

Note: The meaning "set of articles" apparently first appeared in Middle English, the now predominant meaning "group of persons" in early Modern English (hypothesized instances of this sense in Middle and Old English are dubious). A direct descendant of Old English gang in Modern English would be gong (with the effects of vowel lengthening before the cluster -ŋg- and subsequent rounding of the long vowel in monosyllables), but this survived into Modern English only in the sense "privy"—the now general form gang for other senses was borrowed into standard English from northern dialects and Scots, where rounding never occurred. Use of both the noun and verb gang in its historical senses, denoting motion or passage, is now largely limited to traditional Scots.

Verb (1)

derivative of gang entry 1

Verb (2)

Middle English gangen, gongen & early Scots gang, going back to Old English gangan, gongan, going back to Germanic *gangan- (whence Old Saxon & Old High German gangan"to go," Old Norse ganga, Gothic gaggan), probably going back to Indo-European *ǵhenǵh-i̯̯e-, whence also Lithuanian žeñgti "to stride"

Note: Old English gangan, a Class VII strong verb, was used more or less as a synonym of gān, the ancestor of Modern English go entry 1 (itself descended from Germanic *gēn-), though forms other than the present tense and infinitive rarely occur. In other Germanic languages cognates of gangan served and still serve as suppletive forms of the parallel cognates of gān. Compare note at gang entry 1.