Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Gang?

\Gang\, v. i. [AS. gangan, akin to OS. & OHG. gangan, Icel. ganga, Goth. gaggan; cf. Lith. ?engti to walk, Skr. ja?gha leg. [root]48. Cf. {Go}.] To go; to walk. Note: Obsolete in English literature, but still used in the North of England, and also in Scotland.
\Gang\, 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.