List of English terms of venery, by animal

A skein of geese

This is a list of English terms of venery (venery being an archaic word for hunting), comprising terms from a tradition that arose in the Late Middle Ages, at least partly from the Book of Saint Albans of 1486, a historic list of "Company Terms". The present list also includes more common collective terms (such as "herd" and "flock") for some animals.

Contents 

Standard terms for particular groups are listed first in each group and shown in bold.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.
Subject Collective noun Notes Sources
A
antelopes herd [1]
ants army [2]
colony [2][3]
nest [2]
swarm [2]
apes shrewdness [1][4][5]
troop [2]
asses herd [2]
drove driven in a group [2]
pace or passe [2][3]
B
baboons troop [2][5]
badgers cete [2][3][5][6]
bats colony [3]
bears sleuth or sloth [2][3][5]
beavers colony [2]
family [2]
bees swarm [5]
drift [5]
erst [5]
grist [3]
birdsflock [5]
flight [5]
pod [5]
bitterns sedge or sege [3][4][7][8]
boars (wild boars) sounder 12 or more [6]
buffalo herd [3][5]
bullfinches bellowing [5]
bullocks drove driven in a group [5]
butterflies swarm [9]
flutter [10]
kaleidoscope [11]
C
capercaillie tok [12]
capons mews [13]
caribou herd [13]
cats clowder [2][3]
pounce [3]
wild cats (feral cats) destruction [5][14]
cattle mobdriven in a group [15]
chickens clutch [5]
choughs chattering or clattering [4][5][6][16][17]
colts rag [3][5][6]
rake [5]
cormorants gulp [3]
coots covert [4][5][8]
coyotes pack
cranes herd [4][5][8]
sedge or sege [3][7]
crocodiles bask [3]
crows murder or horde [3][5][6]
curlews herd [4][5][6][8]
D
deer herd [18]
parcel [19]
dogs pack [18]
dolphins pod [20][21]
dotterel trip [3][5][18][22]
doves dole or dule fanciful [3][4][5][18]
flight [8]
ducks badling or badelynge [3][8]
paddling on water [3][5][18]
plump [23][24]
raft on water [3][5][18]
dunlins fling [5]
E
eaglesconvocation [3]
eels bed [2]
elephants herd [3]
elk gang [5][6]
herd [5]
F
falcons cast [25]
ferrets business corruption over time of 'busyness' [3][6]
busyness [4]
besyness
fesynes
fesnyng
feamyng 		ghost words arising from successive misspellings of "busyness" [26]
finches charm or chirm [3][5]
fish school [3]
shoal [3]
flamingoes stand [3]
flamboyance [27]
colony [27]
regiment [27]
flies business [3]
foxes leash [3]
skulk [3]
frogs army [3]
G
geese flock on land [3][28]
gaggle on land [3][8][28]
skein in flight [3][28]
giraffes herd [28]
tower [3][28]
gnats cloud [3][5][28]
horde [3][28]
goats flock [28]
goldfinches charm [8][28]
goosanders dopping [28]
gorillas band [3][28]
goshawks flight [4][28]
grasshoppers cloud [3][28]
grouse covey [5][28]
guineafowl rasp [29]
H
hares down [30]
drove [30]
flick [30]
husk [30]
harts herd [30]
hawks boil two or more spiralling in flight [3]
cast [3][4][5]
kettle flying in large numbers [3]
lease [4]
hedgehogs array [30]
hens brood [8]
herons sedge or sege [3][4][6][7][8][30]
siege [3][5][30]
hippopotamuses bloat [3][30]
hogs parcel See also boars, pigs, swine [31][32]
hornets bike [30]
nest [3]
swarm [30]
horses team in harness [3][30]
haras or harrase [3][30]
herd [30]
stable [30]
string [3][30]
stud [3][30]
hounds pack [30]
cry [30]
hunt [30]
meet [30]
mute [30]
stable [30]
hyenas cackle [3]
I
ibex herd [33]
ibises colony [33]
iguanas mess [33]
insects flight [33]
horde [33]
plague [33]
rabble [33]
swarm [33]
J
jackdaws clattering [34]
train [34][35]
jays party [3]
scold [3]
jellyfish fluther [5]
smack [3][5]
K
kangaroos mob [2]
troop [2][3]
kittens kindle [5]
litter
L
lapwings deceit or desert [3][4][5][6][36]
larks bevy [5]
exaltation [4][5][6][8]
leopards leap or lepe [2][3][5]
lions pride [2][3][5]
sawt [5]
locusts plague [3]
M
mackerel shoal [37]
magpies charm [3]
congregation [37]
gulp [3]
murder [3]
tiding [3][4][5][37]
tittering [37]
mallards flush [37]
puddling [37]
sord [3][5][8][37]
suit or sute [5][8][37]
mares stud [5][6][37]
martens richesse or richness [3][5][37]
mice nest [2][37]
trip [37]
minnows shoal [37]
moles company [37]
labor or labour [2][3][5][37]
monkeys barrel [2][3]
cartload [37]
tribe [37]
troop [3][5][37]
wilderness [38]
moorhens plump [37]
moose herd [2][37]
mosquitoes scourge [37]
mudhens fleet [37]
mules barren [2][3][5][6][37]
pack [3][37]
rake [37]
span [2][3][37]
N
nightingales watch [4][5][8]
O
owls parliament [2][3][6]
oxen drove [2]
team [2][3]
yoke [2][3]
oysters bed [2][3]
P
parrots company [2][3]
pandemonium [2]
partridges covey [3][5][8]
peacocks muster [3][5][6][8]
ostentation [2][3]
pride [2]
pelicans pod [2]
penguins colony [2][3]
convent [2]
pheasants bouquet [2][3]
head [5]
nest [3]
nide [3]
nye [2][3][5][6][8]
pigs drift See also boars, hogs, swine [2][3]
drove [2][3]
pigeons kit flying together [5]
plovers congregation [4][5][8]
stand [5]
wing [5]
Q
quail bevy [2][3][4][5][8]
covey [2][3]
drift [5]
R
rabbits colony [3]
nest [3]
herd domestic only [3]
litter young rabbits only [3]
raccoonsgaze [2]
ratsmischief [39]
ravens unkindness [4][5]
rhinoceroses crash [2][3][5]
rooks building [4][5][8]
parliament [5][6]
S
salmon bind [40]
draught [40]
run [40]
sandpipers fling [40]
seals herd [40]
pod [40]
rookery [40]
sea urchins herd [41][42]
sheep flock [2][3][40]
down [40]
drift when driven in a group [40]
drove when driven in a group [3][40]
herd [3][40]
hurtle [2][40]
meinie [40]
mob [40]
pack [2]
parcel [40]
trip [40]
sheldrake dopping [8][40][43]
snails escargatoire [40]
rout [40]
walk [40]
snakes bed [2]
den [2]
knot [2]
nest [3]
pit [2]
snipes walk [5][6][8][40]
whisp or wisp [5][40]
sparrows host [2][3][4][5][8][40]
meinie [40]
tribe [40]
spiderscluster or clutter [2][40]
squirrels colony [40]
dray [2][3]
scurry [2][3]
starlings chattering [2][16][40]
clattering [40]
cloud [40]
congregation [40]
murmuration [2][4][5][6][8][40]
stoats pack [40]
trip [40]
storks flight [40]
mustering [2][3][40]
phalanx when migrating [40]
swallows flight [2][3][8][40]
gulp [40]
swans bank on the ground [2][40]
bevy [2][3][40]
drift [40]
eyrar [40]
flight [2]
game [5][40]
herd [2][8][40]
lamentation fanciful [40]
sownder [40]
team [40]
wedge in flight [2][3][5][40]
whiting [40]
swifts flock [40]
scream [44]
swine doylt See also boars, hogs, pigs [40]
drift [6][40]
trip [40]
T
teal spring [3][4][5][8]
tigers ambush [2]
streak [2][3]
toads knot [2][3]
nest [2]
trout hover [2][3]
turkeys gang [3]
rafter [2][3]
turtles bale [2][3]
dole or dule [2][8]
nest [3]
turtle doves dole or dule [4]
pitying [3]
U
V
vipers nest [3]
vultures wake
W
walruses herd [3]
pod [3]
waterfowl bunch [5]
knob fewer than 30 (fanciful)[45]
raft [5]
weasels colony [2]
pack [2]
whales gam [2][3]
herd [3]
mob [2]
pod [2][3]
wigeons company [3][5]
trip [5]
wildfowl bunch [5]
knob fewer than 30 (fanciful)[45]
plump [5]
trip [5]
wolves pack [2][3]
rout or route when in movement [2][3]
wombats wisdom [46]
woodcocks fall [3][4][5][8]
woodpeckers descent [2][3][5]
wrens herd [4][5]
X
Y
Z
zebras herd [2][47]
cohort [47]
dazzle [48]
zeal [2][47]
Contents 

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Pepper, Elizabeth (2003). Witches all (Revised, Illustrated ed.). Tiverton, Rhode Island: Witches' Almanac Limited. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-881098-26-3.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 "San Diego Zoo". archived copy of Animal group names. Zoological Society of San Diego. Archived from the original on July 4, 2013. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 "Common Questions: What Do You Call a Group of...?". archived copy of Animal Congregations, or What Do You Call a Group of.....?. U.S. Geological Survey Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. Archived from the original on March 20, 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-13.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Berners, Dame Juliana (1881) [1486]. The Boke of Saint Albans. Introduction by William Blades. London: Elliot Stock. Retrieved 2011-05-27.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 "What do you call a group of ...?". Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Schott, Ben (2002). Schott's Original Miscellany. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 0-7475-6320-9.
  7. 1 2 3 "Sege" – via The Free Dictionary.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Strutt, Joseph (1801). The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England. London: J. White. p. 28.
  9. ↑ "Butterflies and Moths of North America – collecting and sharing data about Lepidoptera". butterfliesandmoths.org.
  10. ↑ "Monarch Butterfly: Danaus plexippus". National Geographic.
  11. ↑ "What do you call a group of butterflies?". reference.com.
  12. ↑ "BTO BirdFacts – Capercaillie". bto.org.
  13. 1 2 Faulkner, Mark; Lima Filho, Eduardo; Logan, Harriet; Mina, Miraphora (2013). A Compendium of Collective Nouns: From an Armory of Aardvarks to a Zeal of Zebras. Text by Jay Sacher. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. p. 37. ASIN B00CUSQNWO. ISBN 978-1-4521-2952-5. LCCN 2013-10190. OCLC 854853170.
  14. ↑ "destruction" – via The Free Dictionary.
  15. ↑ mob. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved November 30, 2015 from Dictionary.com website http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mob
  16. 1 2 "chattering" – via The Free Dictionary.
  17. ↑ "clattering" – via The Free Dictionary.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Ask the Experts: Collective Terms for Groups of Animals - D". AskOxford. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. Retrieved 2011-05-27.
  19. ↑ Scrope, William (1883). Days of deer-stalking in the Scottish Highlands. London: Hamilton, Adams & Co. p. 83. He pressed forward rapidly, still out of sight of both parcels of deer
  20. ↑ "Battle to save NY pod of dolphins". BBC News. 17 January 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  21. ↑ A Pod of Dolphins – NASA Mars Collection
  22. ↑ "BTO BirdFacts – Dotterel". bto.org.
  23. ↑ "plump: meaning and definitions". infoplease.com.
  24. ↑ Plump[4] - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary
  25. ↑ "cast". Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. 1989.
  26. ↑ Borgmann, Dmitri A. (1967). Beyond Language: Adventures in Word and Thought. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 79–80, 146, 251–254. OCLC 655067975.
  27. 1 2 3 "Animal Groups". About.com. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Ask the Experts: Collective Terms for Groups of Animals - G". AskOxford. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
  29. ↑ Lynn-Allen, Lieut.-Colonel B. G. (1951). Shot-gun and Sunlight – The Game Birds of East Africa. London: Batchworth Press.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 "Ask the Experts: Collective Terms for Groups of Animals - H". AskOxford. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on June 16, 2006. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
  31. ↑ Avery Craven (1957). The coming of the Civil War. University of Chicago Press. p. 30. ISBN 0-226-11894-0.
  32. ↑ Schoultz, Lars (1998). Beneath the United States. Harvard University Press. p. 1. ISBN 0-674-92276-X. They are lazy, dirty, nasty, and in short I can compare them to nothing but a parcel of hogs. (John Quincy Adams, age 12)
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Ask the Experts: Collective Terms for Groups of Animals - I". AskOxford. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. Retrieved 2011-05-27.
  34. 1 2 Skull, Amanda. "Bird Watch – Jackdaw" (PDF). Bird Watch. British Trust for Ornithology. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  35. ↑ White, Gilbert (1833). The Natural History of Selborne. London, United Kingdom: N. Hailes. p. 163.
  36. ↑ "BTO BirdFacts – Lapwing". bto.org.
  37. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 "Ask the Experts: Collective Terms for Groups of Animals - M". AskOxford. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
  38. ↑ Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene i
  39. ↑ "ABC Creature Features - Rats". ABC.
  40. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 "Ask the Experts: Collective Terms for Groups of Animals - S". AskOxford. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
  41. ↑ "Balancing Act: Otters, Urchins and Kelp". Retrieved 2014-06-25.
  42. ↑ "Blue Planet: The Deep".
  43. ↑ "Dopping" – via The Free Dictionary.
  44. ↑ "BTO BirdFacts – Swift". bto.org.
  45. 1 2 Ellery, Sue (November 11, 2012). Gallimaufry. Lulu.com. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-291-15774-1.
  46. ↑ "Animal Encounters – Nat Geo Wild".
  47. 1 2 3 "Ask the Experts: Collective Terms for Groups of Animals - Z". AskOxford. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2010-06-22.
  48. ↑ van der Post, Laurens (1958). The Lost World of the Kalahari. Harcourt Brace & Company. p. 196.

Further reading

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