ark_, vi, 5. _Folks_, which ought to be the plural of
_folk_, and equivalent to _peoples_, is now used with reference to a
plurality of individuals, and the collective word seems liable to be
entirely superseded by it. A _fry_ is a swarm of young fishes, or of any
other little creatures living in water: so called, perhaps, because their
motions often make the surface _fry_. Several such swarms might properly be
called _fries_; but this form can never be applied to the individuals,
without interfering with the other. "So numerous _was the fry_."--_Cowper_.
"The _fry betake themselves_ to the neighbouring pools."--_Quarterly
Review_. "You cannot think more contemptuously of _these gentry_ than
_they_ were thought of by the true prophets."--_Watson's Apology_, p. 93.
"_Grouse_, a heathcock."--_Johnson_.

"The 'squires in scorn will fly the house
For better game, and look for _grouse_."--_Swift_.

"Here's an English tailor, come hither for stealing out of _a_ French
_hose_."--_Shak_. "He, being in love, could not see to garter his
_hose_."--_Id._ Formerly, the plural was _hosen_: "Then these men were
bound, in their coats, their _hosen_, and their hats."--_Dan._, iii, 21. Of
_sheep_, Shakspeare has used the regular plural: "Two hot _sheeps_,
marry!"--_Love's Labour Lost_, Act ii, Sc. 1.

"Who both by his calf and his lamb will be known,
May well kill _a neat_ and _a sheep_ of his own."--_Tusser_.

"His droves of asses, camels, herds of _neat_,
And flocks of _sheep_, grew shortly twice as great."--_Sandys_.

"As a jewel of gold in _a swine's_ snout."--_Prov._, xi, 22. "A herd of
_many swine_, feeding."--_Matt._, viii, 30. "An idle person only lives to
spend his time, and eat the fruits of the earth, like a _vermin_ or a
wolf."--_Taylor_. "The head of a wolf, dried and hanged up, will scare away
_vermin_."--_Bacon_. "Cheslip, _a small vermin_ that lies under stones or
tiles."--SKINNER: in _Joh. and in Web. Dict._ "This is flour, the _rest is_
bran."--"And the _rest were_ blinded."--_Rom._, xi, 7. "The poor beggar
hath a just demand of _an alms_."--_Swift_. "Thine _alms are_ come up for a
memorial before God."--_Acts_, x, 4. "The draught of air performed the
function of _a bellows_."--_Robertson's Amer._, ii, 223. "As the _bellows
do_."--_Bicknell's Gram._, ii, 11. "The _bellows are_ burned."--_Jer._, vi,
29. "Let _a gallows_ be made."--_Esther_, v, 14. "_Mallows are_ very useful
in medicine."--_Wood'