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?
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3Is "swarm" not applicable to dragonflies ?– Alain Pannetier ΦMar 12, 2011 at 9:33
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6Related: Terms for collections of animals.– RegDwigнtMar 12, 2011 at 12:21
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a glimmer of dragonflies is the term I like to use– user91366Sep 13, 2014 at 17:27
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I would say a "squadron".– Hot LicksApr 27, 2016 at 18:17
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quora.com/What-is-a-group-of-dragons-called– Hot LicksJun 28, 2020 at 16:15
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6 Answers
A flight or cluster of dragonflies :)
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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– LuisMar 12, 2011 at 12:18
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5It'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. Sep 13, 2014 at 17:42
A large or dense group of flying insects is called a swarm.
You could also say a bunch of dragonflies.
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.
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".
Beauty. Used in the book, The Bees, by Laline Paul, she describes a group of dragonflies as "a beauty of dragonflies."
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
