“gang” – English explanatory dictionary

noun 1. a band of people, e.g. criminals or youths ○ a notorious South American drugs gang ○ a gang of pickpockets ○ Gangs of football fans wandered round the streets breaking shop windows. 2. a group of workers ○ Gangs of men worked all night to repair the railway track. ■ verb □ to gang up with someone to join up with someone to do something ○ The different unions are ganging up to put in a joint pay claim. □ to gang up on someone to form a group to attack one person ○ She felt as if the rest of office staff were ganging up on her.

v. i. [AS. gangan, akin to OS. & OHG. gangan, Icel. ganga, Goth. gaggan; cf. Lith. engti to walk, Skr. jagha leg. rad.48. Cf. Go.] To go; to walk. Obsolete in English literature, but still used in the North of England, and also in Scotland.

n. [Icel. gangr a going, gang, akin to AS., D., G., & Dan. gang a going, Goth. gaggs street, way. See Gang, v. i.]
1. A going; a course. [Obs.]
2. A number going in company; hence, a company, or a number of persons associated for a particular purpose; a group of laborers under one foreman; a squad; as a gang of sailors; a chain gang; a gang of thieves.
3. A combination of similar implements arranged so as by acting together, to save time or labor; a set; as a gang of saws, or of plows.
4. (Naut.) A set; all required for an outfit; as a new gang of stays.
5. [Cf. Gangue.] (Mining) The mineral substance which incloses a vein; a matrix; a gangue. Gang board, or Gang plank. (Naut.) (a) A board or plank, with cleats for steps, forming a bridge by which to enter or leave a vessel. (b) A plank within or without the bulwarks of a vessel’s waist, for the sentinel to walk on. — Gang cask, a small cask in which to bring water aboard ships or in which it is kept on deck. — Gang cultivator, Gang plow, a cultivator or plow in which several shares are attached to one frame, so as to make two or more furrows at the same time. — Gang days, Rogation days; the time of perambulating parishes. See Gang week (below). — Gang drill, a drilling machine having a number of drills driven from a common shaft. — Gang master, a master or employer of a gang of workmen. — Gang plank. See Gang board (above). — Gang plow. See Gang cultivator (above). — Gang press, a press for operating upon a pile or row of objects separated by intervening plates. — Gang saw, a saw fitted to be one of a combination or gang of saws hung together in a frame or sash, and set at fixed distances apart. — Gang tide. See Gang week (below). — Gang tooth, a projecting tooth. [Obs.] Halliwell. — Gang week, Rogation week, when formerly processions were made to survey the bounds of parishes. Halliwell. — Live gang, or Round gang, the Western and the Eastern names, respectively, for a gang of saws for cutting the round log into boards at one operation. Knight. — Slabbing gang, an arrangement of saws which cuts slabs from two sides of a log, leaving the middle part as a thick beam.