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