gang

play

verb \ ˈgaŋ \

Definition of gang

intransitive verb

Scotland

:go

Recent Examples of gang from the Web

The backs often could not get past the line of scrimmage, as defenders ganged up at the point of attack.

— tom groeschen, Cincinnati.com, "UC vs. Austin Peay: Scouting report and prediction," 30 Aug. 2017
Backup quarterback Tyler Hilinski’s red zone series ended abruptly when defensive linemen Dan Ekuale and Hercules Mata’afa ganged up to deny tailback Gerard Wicks passage over the goal line.

— stefanie loh, The Seattle Times, "WSU practice notes: Mike Leach says, ‘We’re getting a little more consistent’," 6 Aug. 2017
A few days after the review appeared online, Troemel posted a side-by-side comparison and his supporters swiftly expressed their alarm over the similarity, in some cases, ganging up on Gazinskaya.

— amy verner, Vogue, "Catching Up With Vika Gazinskaya and Brad Troemel in the Wake of Fashion’s Latest Copying Debate," 13 July 2017
Residents should gang up and notify the St. Charles Police Department at 630-377-4435.

— Aurora Beacon-News, "St. Charles warns about electric services scams," 3 July 2017
Sometimes multiple guardians of the English language will gang up, employing ridicule through bad cop-bad cop ridiculing tactics.

— by emily parnell, kansascity.com, "Grammar police, do us a favor and put a sock in it," 20 June 2017
The new version faces contemporary challenges: Many species featured in the original are now considered endangered and Marvel’s Wolverine and Wolfsbane are always ganging up on our hero.

— bill keveney, USA TODAY, "Naywatch: Stop breaking 'CHiPs' off the old TV block," 13 June 2017
There were backyard productions that involved a boom box and family members press-ganged into service.

— adam green, Vogue, "Meet Ben Platt, Broadway Breakout Star of Dear Evan Hansen," 12 June 2017
In April, Gianforte joked about ganging up on a reporter at town hall with hundreds of supporters.

— kurtis lee, latimes.com, "Who is Greg Gianforte? In Montana, the Republican's outburst against reporter came as little surprise," 25 May 2017

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.

Origin and Etymology of gang

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 ¹go (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 ²gang.

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

See Words from the same year

gang

noun

Definition of gang

1 a (1) :a set of articles :outfit

a gang of oars

(2) :a combination of similar implements or devices arranged for convenience to act together

a gang of saws

b :group: such as

(1) :a group of persons working together

(2) :a group of persons working to unlawful or antisocial ends; especially :a band of antisocial adolescents

2 :a group of persons having informal and usually close social relations

watching TV with the gang

See gang defined for English-language learners

See gang defined for kids

Examples of gang in a Sentence

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 of gang from the Web

Provide gang mediation and intervention for high-risk youth with the goal of establishing cease-fires and building the foundation for active peace.

— carole carlson, Post-Tribune, "Seeking divine intervention in Gary's violent streets," 26 Aug. 2017
A reputed member of the Black P Stones gang, Champ was grazed by a bullet in a shooting involving rival Gangster Disciples just hours before the Cornell Square Park attack on Sept. 19, 2013, prosecutors said at the time.

— megan crepeau, chicagotribune.com, "Gunman sentenced for mass shooting on Cornell Square Park," 23 Aug. 2017
Police broke up the gang that staged the attacks in the Catalan cities of Barcelona and Cambrils, Zoido said after a meeting of the terrorism threat assessment group.

— rodrigo orihuela, Bloomberg.com, "Spain Maintains Terrorism Alert Level After Police Break Up Group That Staged Attacks," 19 Aug. 2017
Clearly, this place was meant for big groups, so get the gang together and order as much of the menu as possible.

— andrew knowlton, Bon Appetit, "No. 08Kemuri Tatsu-YaAustin," 15 Aug. 2017
Normally rivals, Gonzales brought the three gangs together to control the drug trade and other illicit activities in an area of Los Angeles that spanned along the Los Angeles River from Elysian Park to near Burbank.

— andy nguyen, Glendale News-Press, "Glendale man admits to supplying drugs to L.A. gangs under orders from Mexican Mafia," 14 Aug. 2017
Mama June and the gang are coming back in all of their country glory for a second season of Mama June:

— leanna commins, Cosmopolitan, ""Mama June: From Not to Hot" Is Back With a Second Season and a Pregnancy Announcement," 7 Aug. 2017
To protect his only daughter from the marauding gangs of mostly unemployed men hepped up on drugs, liquor and misinformation, Ilibagiza's father sent her to the home of a local pastor, a Hutu man whose Tutsi wife had passed away.

— donna vickroy, Daily Southtown, "Vickroy: From the ashes of Rwanda's genocide rises a phoenix of forgiveness," 28 July 2017
Mr Hapilon, a leader of a notorious kidnap-for-ransom gang, Abu Sayyaf, pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) three years ago.

— The Economist, "Winning the war with IS in the Philippines, but losing the peace," 20 July 2017

Origin and Etymology of gang

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 ¹gang

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.

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

See Words from the same year

gang Synonyms

Synonyms

army, band, brigade, company, crew, outfit, party, platoon, squad, team

Related Words

battalion, corps, troop; force, host, posse, stable, troupe; administration, department, help, personnel, staff

Near Antonyms

loner; individualist

gang

verb

Definition of gang

transitive verb

1 a :to assemble or operate simultaneously as a group

b :to arrange in or produce as a gang

2 :to attack in a gang

Hoodlums ganged him and took his money.

intransitive verb

:to move or act as a gang

Recent Examples of gang from the Web

The backs often could not get past the line of scrimmage, as defenders ganged up at the point of attack.

— tom groeschen, Cincinnati.com, "UC vs. Austin Peay: Scouting report and prediction," 30 Aug. 2017
Backup quarterback Tyler Hilinski’s red zone series ended abruptly when defensive linemen Dan Ekuale and Hercules Mata’afa ganged up to deny tailback Gerard Wicks passage over the goal line.

— stefanie loh, The Seattle Times, "WSU practice notes: Mike Leach says, ‘We’re getting a little more consistent’," 6 Aug. 2017
A few days after the review appeared online, Troemel posted a side-by-side comparison and his supporters swiftly expressed their alarm over the similarity, in some cases, ganging up on Gazinskaya.

— amy verner, Vogue, "Catching Up With Vika Gazinskaya and Brad Troemel in the Wake of Fashion’s Latest Copying Debate," 13 July 2017
Residents should gang up and notify the St. Charles Police Department at 630-377-4435.

— Aurora Beacon-News, "St. Charles warns about electric services scams," 3 July 2017
Sometimes multiple guardians of the English language will gang up, employing ridicule through bad cop-bad cop ridiculing tactics.

— by emily parnell, kansascity.com, "Grammar police, do us a favor and put a sock in it," 20 June 2017
The new version faces contemporary challenges: Many species featured in the original are now considered endangered and Marvel’s Wolverine and Wolfsbane are always ganging up on our hero.

— bill keveney, USA TODAY, "Naywatch: Stop breaking 'CHiPs' off the old TV block," 13 June 2017
There were backyard productions that involved a boom box and family members press-ganged into service.

— adam green, Vogue, "Meet Ben Platt, Broadway Breakout Star of Dear Evan Hansen," 12 June 2017
In April, Gianforte joked about ganging up on a reporter at town hall with hundreds of supporters.

— kurtis lee, latimes.com, "Who is Greg Gianforte? In Montana, the Republican's outburst against reporter came as little surprise," 25 May 2017

Origin and Etymology of gang

derivative of ²gang

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1791

See Words from the same year

GANG Defined for English Language Learners

gang

noun

Definition of gang for English Language Learners

: a group of criminals
: a group of young people who do illegal things together and who often fight against other gangs
: a group of people who are friends and who do things together