"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Friday 1 October 2010

A Fesnying of Ferrets

   
Whole books have been written about collective nouns for animals. Many of them are words commonly used but some are more unusual.

Among these are:-

A fesnying of ferrets (which also be a busyness of ferrets)
A bob of seals (also plum, pod, rookery, team)
A badling of Ducks (also paddling, team (in the air), flock, plump, sord (on land), sute (on water).
A cete of badgers
A dole of doves (also flight, flock)
An exaltation of larks (also bevy)
A gam of whales (also pod, school)
A husk of hares (also down)
An ostentation of peafowl (also muster, pride)
A nye of pheasants (also nide, bevy)
A rout of wolves (also pack)
A shrewdness of apes
A sedge of herons (also siege)
A singular of boars (also sounder)

Do you have a favourite collective noun?
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1 comment:

  1. Librarian1 October 2010 at 06:25

    "Nye" sounds very very ancient, I bet this word has been around since the earliest Medieval!

    Dole of doves has such symmetrical sound, I like it. And fesnying of ferrets is truly a class of its own! Cete of badgers... hmm... sounds odd.

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