gangs

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of gang.

   Several criminal gangs operated openly in the port district.

   Work gangs cleared the fallen trees from the highway by nightfall.

   Note

   Every sense of the singular takes the same regular -s plural: street gangs, work gangs under a foreman, gangs of politicians pursuing a goal, and, in US usage, chain gangs. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb, so only the surrounding sentence shows whether groups of people or an action is meant.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of gang.

   Whenever the new kid speaks up, the whole class gangs up on him.

   The electrician gangs the switches onto a single panel for easier control.

   Note

   Two quite different verbs share this form. In Scotland and the North of England, gang means simply "go" and takes no object, so there "she gangs" is just "she goes." The transitive verb means joining similar items into one larger unit, which is how an electrician gangs switches together onto a single panel.

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