cluster

English

Wikipedia

A cluster of mushrooms.

A star cluster

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈklʌstə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈklʌstɚ/
• Rhymes: -ʌstə(r)

Noun

cluster (plural clusters)

1. A group or bunch of several discrete items that are close to each other.

   a cluster of islands

   • Spenser

     Her deeds were like great clusters of ripe grapes, / Which load the bunches of the fruitful vine.

   • 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, The Dust of Conflict:

     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”, Daily Record:

     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 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 206-7: 

     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.

   A cluster of flowers grew in the pot.

2. A number of individuals grouped together or collected in one place; a crowd; a mob.
   • Milton

     As bees […] / Pour forth their populous youth about the hive / In clusters.

   • Shakespeare

     We loved him; but, like beasts / And cowardly nobles, gave way unto your clusters, / Who did hoot him out o' the city.

3. (astronomy) A group of galaxies or stars that appear near each other.

   The Pleiades cluster contains seven bright stars.

4. (music) A secundal chord of three or more notes.
5. (phonetics) A group of consonants.

   The word "scrub" begins with a cluster of three consonants.

6. (computing) A group of computers that work together.
7. (computing) A logical data storage unit containing one or more physical sectors (see block).
8. (statistics) A significant subset within a population.
9. (military) Set of bombs or mines.
10. (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

Translations

group or bunch of something

• Armenian: բույլ (buyl)
• Bulgarian: грозд (bg) m (grozd), кичур (bg) m (kičur), китка (bg) f (kitka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 簇 (zh) (cù), 束 (zh) (shù), 串 (zh) (chuàn), 群 (zh) (qún), 堆 (zh) (duī), 叢 (zh), 丛 (zh) (cóng), 团 (zh) (tuán), 塊 (zh), 块 (zh) (kuài)

• Czech: shluk m
• Danish: klynge (da) c, klase c, sværm (da) c
• Finnish: ryhmä (fi), rykelmä, parvi (fi), kimppu, terttu, ryväs
• French: (group) groupe (fr) m, (cluster) grappe (fr) f

• German: Anhäufung (de) f, Büschel (de) m, Gruppe (de) f, Haufen (de) m, Schwarm (de) m, Traube (de) m
• Irish: braisle f
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ده‌سته‌ (ku) (deste), هێشوو (héshu)

• Low German: Kluuster (nds)
• Persian: كلاستر (گروه، خوشه)
• Russian: (grapes) гроздь (ru) f (grozd'), (grapes) кисть (ru) f (kist'), пучок (ru) m (pučók), (bees) рой (ru) m (roj), скопление (ru) n (skoplénije)
• Spanish: racimo (es) m, amontonamiento (es) m

group of galaxies or stars

• Arabic: عنقود m (ʕunquud), عنقود نجمي m (ʕunquud najmiy)
• Bulgarian: рой (bg) m (roj)
• Czech: kupa (cs) f
• Danish: klynge (da) c
• Finnish: galaksijoukko (fi)
• German: Cluster (de) m, Schwarm (de) m, Sternhaufen (de) m

• Indonesian: gugus (id)
• Irish: braisle f
• Low German: Kluuster (nds) m
• Polish: gromada (pl) f
• Russian: скопление (ru) n (skoplénije)
• Spanish: cúmulo (es) m

chord of three or more notes

• Finnish: sointu (fi), monisointu
• German: Gruppe (de) f, Akkord (de)

• Irish: braisle f
• Polish: klaster m
• Spanish: acorde m

group of consonants

• Czech: shluk m
• Danish: serie c
• Finnish: konsonanttiklusteri

• German: Gruppe (de) f, Haufen (de) m
• Polish: zbitka f
• Spanish: grupo (es) m, agrupación (es) f, agrupación (es) f, agrupamiento m

group of computers working together

• Danish: klynge (da) c
• German: Cluster (de) m
• Irish: braisle f

• Polish: klaster m
• Russian: кластер (ru) m (kláster)
• Spanish: grupo (es) m
• Swedish: kluster (sv) n

significant subset within a population

• Czech: shluk m
• Finnish: klusteri, ryväs
• German: Gruppe (de) f, Haufen (de) m

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ده‌سته‌ (ku) (deste), هێشوو (héshu)

• Spanish: grupo (es) m

set of bombs or mines

• Danish: klynge (da) c
• Finnish: rypäle (fi)

• German: Schwarm (de) m, Traube (de) m

metal design

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: groupe

Verb

cluster (third-person singular simple present clusters, present participle clustering, simple past and past participle clustered)

1. (intransitive) To form a cluster or group.

   The children clustered around the puppy.

   • Tennyson

     His sunny hair / Cluster'd about his temples, like a god's.

   • Foxe

     the princes of the country clustering together

Translations

Form into a cluster

• Bulgarian: трупам се (trupam se)
• Danish: flokkes, samle sig i klynge
• Finnish: kerääntyä, ryhmittyä, kasvaa tertussa

• Irish: braisligh
• Portuguese: aglomerar (pt)
• Spanish: amontonar (es), aglomerar (es), agruparse (es)

Anagrams

• custrel
• cutlers