gang up


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gang 1

 (găng)
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).]

gang 2

 (găng)
n.
Variant of gangue.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

gang up

vb
informal (often foll by: on or against) to combine in a group (against)
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Verb1.gang up - act as an organized group
aggroup, group - form a group or group together
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

gang

noun
1. An organized group of criminals, hoodlums, or wrongdoers:
Informal: mob.
2. Informal. A particular social group:
Informal: bunch.
3. A group of people organized for a particular purpose:
phrasal verb
gang up
To assemble or join in a group:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations

w>gang up

visich zusammentun; to gang up against or on somebodysich gegen jdn verbünden or verschwören; (to fight) → geschlossen auf jdn or gegen jdn losgehen
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
References in periodicals archive ?
Complement refers to the body's army of twenty to thirty proteins that "gang up" on an infection.
Let's hope there are no awks run-ins next month when the Essex gang ups sticks to catch the last rays of summer in Marbs.