# gang

Pronunciation: say "GANG" /ɡæŋ/

## Noun

1. An organized group of criminals, or a group of young people who commit crime together and often claim a part of a city as their territory.
   - Simple: A group of people who commit crimes together, often controlling an area of a city.
   - _Prosecutors claimed the men formed a gang to smuggle goods across the border._
   - _The gang divided its profits according to each member's role._
2. A group of people who spend time together or act together for a shared purpose, such as friends or allied politicians; also used to address such a group.
   - Simple: A group of friends or other people who spend time or work together.
   - _The usual gang gathered at the café before the morning shift._
   - _A gang of volunteers spent the weekend repainting the community hall._
3. A group of laborers working together under a single foreman; a squad or work crew.
   - Simple: A group of workers who do a job together under one boss.
   - _A track gang replaced the worn rails before the next train passed._
   - _The foreman assigned each gang a different section of the field._
4. A group of prisoners chained together and forced to perform hard labor, typically outdoors. *(US)*
   - Simple: A group of prisoners chained together and made to work outside.
   - _The gang was shackled together as it cleared the roadside ditches._
   - _Convicts on the gang hauled rock from dawn until dusk._
7. A set of electrical switches or sockets wired together as one unit under a single faceplate.
   - Simple: A group of light switches or sockets joined together under one cover plate.
   - _Beside the back door, a gang of three switches under one faceplate controls the porch, garage, and yard lights._
   - _A two-switch gang fit neatly into the existing wall box._
8. A set of similar tools or parts arranged or kept together for one job.
   - Simple: A set of similar tools kept or used together.
   - _At the sawmill, a gang of parallel blades slices each log into several boards in one pass._
   - _Workers mounted a gang of saws to slice several boards at once._
10. A going or journey; also the course, path, or track that one follows. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: A journey, or the path or track you follow.

## Verb

5. To engage in group sex in which multiple participants have sex with a single person. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To take part in group sex in which several people have sex with one person.
6. To attach similar items to one another so they form a single larger unit.
   - Simple: To join several similar things together so they work as one unit.
   - _Electricians often gang several switches behind a single faceplate._
   - _The shop ganged multiple small jobs onto one sheet to save paper._
9. In Scottish and northern English dialect, to go or walk somewhere. *(dialectal, Northern England, Scotland)*
   - Simple: In Scottish and northern English speech, to go somewhere.
   - _'We'll gang down to the harbor once the rain stops,' the old fisherman said in his broad Scots._
   - _'Ye gang on ahead, and I'll catch ye up,' she called over her shoulder._

## Noun

11. An outbuilding used as a toilet; an outhouse set apart from the main dwelling. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An outdoor toilet in a small building away from the house.

## Origin

**Meaning 9** — Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ- ("to step, walk") lies behind Proto-Germanic *ganganą, which gave Old English gangan, meaning "to go, walk, turn out," and Middle English gangen. Scots gang, Swedish gånga, and Icelandic ganga are relatives, and the word is ultimately connected to gang in the sense of a group.
**Meanings 1–4, 6–8, 10–11** — Old English gang meant "a journey, way, passage" and became Middle English gang. It goes back through Proto-Germanic *gangaz to the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰengʰ- ("to step, stride"). Dutch gang, German Gang, and Swedish gång are cognates.
**Meaning 5** — A shortening of gangbang.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/gang (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).