Cluster

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈklÊŒstÉ™/
• US IPA: /ˈklÊŒstÉš/
• Rhymes: -ÊŒstÉ™(r)

Origin

From Middle English cluster, from Old English cluster, clyster ("cluster, bunch, branch"), from Proto-Germanic *klus-, *klas- ("to clump, lump together") + Proto-Germanic *-þrą, related to Low German Kluuster ("cluster"), Dutch dialectal klister ("cluster"), Swedish kluster ("cluster"), Icelandic klasi ("cluster; bunch of grapes").

Full definition of cluster

Noun

1. A group or bunch of several discrete items that are close to each other.a cluster of islands
• SpenserHer deeds were like great clusters of ripe grapes,
  Which load the bunches of the fruitful vine.
• 1907, w, The Dust of Conflict Chapter 7, Then there was no more cover, for they straggled out, not in ranks but clusters, from among orange trees and tall, flowering shrubs...,
• 2011, December 29, Keith Jackson, SPL: Celtic 1 Rangers 0, Charlie Mulgrew’s delicious deadball delivery was attacked by a cluster of green and white shirts at McGregor’s back post but Ledley got up higher and with more purpose than anyone else to thump a header home from five yards.
• 2013, William E. Conner, An Acoustic Arms Race, Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.
2. A cluster of flowers grew in the pot.
3. A number of individuals grouped together or collected in one place; a crowd; a mob.
• MiltonAs bees ...
  Pour forth their populous youth about the hive
  In clusters.
• ShakespeareWe loved him; but, like beasts
  And cowardly nobles, gave way unto your clusters,
  Who did hoot him out o' the city.
4. (astronomy) A group of galaxies or stars that appear near each other.
   The Pleiades cluster contains seven bright stars.
5. (music) A secundal chord of three or more notes.
6. (phonetics) A group of consonants.
   The word "scrub" begins with a cluster of three consonants.
7. (computing) A group of computers that work together.
8. (computing) A logical data storage unit containing one or more physical sectors (see block).
9. (statistics) A significant subset within a population.
10. (military) Set of bombs or mines.
11. (army) A small metal design that indicates that a medal has been awarded to the same person before.

Derived terms

• cluster analysis
• clustering
• cluster bomb
• globular cluster
• open cluster
• star cluster

Verb

1. (intransitive) To form a cluster or group.The children clustered around the puppy.
• TennysonHis sunny hair
  Cluster'd about his temples, like a god's.
• Foxethe princes of the country clustering together

Anagrams

• custrel
• cutlers