A peep of chickens
'Peep' is for chicks, surely, but when they grow up, it doesn't quite work. How about instead: a haggle of...
Bullocks in droves
I remember pubs in Scotland called The Drover's Inn, and this collective noun can be used for cattle more generally. ...
An army of caterpillars
'Army' makes sense when you hear of trains of spiny, poisonous caterpillars marching like a locomotive across the southern landscapes...
Collective nouns – quotations
A 'trove' or an 'aptness' of quotes; a 'delight' or an 'elegance' of quotations, complemented by a 'fount', a 'finesse'...
A chapter of canons
A neutrally ecclesiastical term, so stick with this if you need to speak about a group of canons in polite...
Collective nouns – metaphors and similes
A 'meadow', a 'marvel' or a 'meaning' of metaphors, or to capture the richness and variety of them, an 'invention'...
A piteousness of doves
A poetic collective noun, evoking the soothing cooing of the birds of peace, one of the gentlest sounds in nature...
A prodigality of marvels
A perfect collective noun for a mass of marvels. There are good reasons the first of Patrick Leigh Fermor's duo...
Economists
Just as I was thinking of instituting a monthly round up of collective nouns as part of this celebration of...
© Beatrice Otto 2021 - design & content unless otherwise stated - all rights reserved