horde
UK /hɔːd/ · US /hɔɹd/ noun, verb
Forms hordes hording hordeing horded
- noun (collective) A wandering troop or gang; especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people (originally Tatars) migrating from place to place for the sake of pasturage, plunder, etc.; a predatory multitude.
- noun (collective) A large number of people or things. “We were beset by a horde of street vendors who thought we were tourists and would buy their cheap souvenirs.”
- verb (intransitive) To travel en masse; to flock.
Synonyms
Etymology
Recorded in English since 1555. From Middle French horde, from German Horde, from Polish horda, from Russian орда́ (ordá, “horde, clan, troop”), probably from Kipchak Turkic (compare Tatar урда (urda, “horde”)), ultimately from Proto-Turkic *ordu (“place of staying of the army, ruler etc.”). Cognates include Turkish ordu (“camp, army”), Mongolian орд (ord, “court, castle, royal compound, camp, horde”) and Kalmyk орда (orda). Doublet of orda and Urdu.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A wandering troop or gang; especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people migrating from place to place for the sake of pasturage, plunder, etc.; a predatory multitude. Thomson.
Etymology [F. horde (cf. G. horde), fr. Turk. ord, ordi, camp; of Tartar origin.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “horde”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details