What is a group of dragonflies?

Question

As per title, what is the name of a group of dragonflies? Some friends say it is a mob, some say it is a hover. Anyone?

Is "swarm" not applicable to dragonflies ? – Alain Pannetier Φ Mar 12 '11 at 09:33 — Alain Pannetier Φ, Mar 12 '11 at 09:33
Related: Terms for collections of animals. – RegDwigнt Mar 12 '11 at 12:21 — RegDwigнt, Mar 12 '11 at 12:21
a glimmer of dragonflies is the term I like to use – Sep 13 '14 at 17:27 — , Sep 13 '14 at 17:27
https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-group-of-dragons-called – Hot Licks Jun 28 '20 at 16:15 — Hot Licks, Jun 28 '20 at 16:15

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 12 '11 at 10:45

9

A flight or cluster of dragonflies :)

answered Mar 12 '11 at 10:45

stormscape

709

Thanks mate. A quick google search for those proved your answer correct. I guess I didn't know what to search in the first place. Thanks again – Luis Mar 12 '11 at 12:18
You're welcome. Search for "collective noun animal wiki". – stormscape Mar 16 '11 at 10:11
5

It's worth pointing out that these collective nouns have a very artificial history compared to that of most words. Most of them first appeared in The Book of St Albans in about 1500 and wasn't what you'd call a book of great learning, it was full of humour, lore, and arbitrary assertions. Not that these are bad things, but students shouldn't get too hung up on learning the more obscure collective, unless they are inclined to do so, as they have very little currency. – Dan Sep 13 '14 at 17:42

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 28 '20 at 15:15

4

A large or dense group of flying insects is called a swarm.

You could also say a bunch of dragonflies.

answered Jun 28 '20 at 15:15

Mohsin Raza

708

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 29 '20 at 02:08

The Ngram of "a * of dragonflies" shows only three results: swarm, pair and couple.

I've also looked at how swarm compares to other suggestions so far (e.g., flight, cluster, beauty, cloud, bunch, glimmer, squadron, mob, hover) in another Ngram, which shows that Ngrams are not found for any of the other suggestions.

Therefore, I think you should go with swarm.

Naomi · Answer 4 · 2020-07-03T12:31:39.110

3

According to Smithsonian magazine, the term is "swarm."

See fact number 12 about dragonflies.

Yet National Geographic mentions the terms "flight" and "cluster". See this page on dragonflies.

I gather that the three most accepted terms are "swarm", "flight", and "cluster".

edited Jul 03 '20 at 12:31

answered Jul 03 '20 at 12:25

Naomi

963

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 27 '16 at 17:30

2

Beauty. Used in the book, The Bees, by Laline Paul, she describes a group of dragonflies as "a beauty of dragonflies."

answered Apr 27 '16 at 17:30

Lucy

29
1

Elian · Answer 6 · 2016-04-27T20:09:26.273

1

I'd suggest, a cloud of dragonflies

cloud

: a large number of things (such as insects) that move together through the air in a group

M-W

edited Apr 27 '16 at 20:09

answered Apr 27 '16 at 20:04

Elian

43,007

What is a group of dragonflies?

6 Answers6