The noun is derived from Middle English cluster (“bunch, cluster, spray; compact body or mass, ball”) [and other forms], from Old English cluster, clyster (“cluster, bunch, branch”), from Proto-Germanic *klas-, *klus- (“to clump, lump together”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up; to clench; to amass”)) + *-þrą (suffix forming nouns denoting an instrument or tool). The English word is probably a doublet of clot. The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * Dutch klister (“cluster”) (dialectal) * Icelandic klasi (“cluster; bunch of grapes”) * Low German Kluuster (“cluster”) * Swedish kluster (“cluster”)
A bunch or group of several discrete items that are close to each other.
a cluster of islands
A cluster of flowers grew in the pot.
4 more examples
Her deeds vvere like great gluſters of ripe grapes, / VVhich load the bunches of the fruitfull vine: / Offring to fall into each mouth that gapes, / And fill the ſame vvith ſtore of timely vvine.1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, signature D, recto:
VVoe is mee, for I am as when they haue gathered the ſummer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluſter to eate: my ſoule deſired the firſt ripe fruit.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Micah 7:1, column 1:
The Father of Nic. Fontanus ſavv five Vertebræ or VVhirle-bones of the Spina in a cluſter like a round ball, in the Body of a Porter that carried burthens.1662, Bartholinus [i.e., Thomas Bartholin], “Of the Back-bone and Its Vertebra’s in General”, in Nicholas Culpeper, Abdiah Cole, transl., Bartholinus Anatomy; […] (The Physitian’s Library), London: […] Peter Cole […], →OCLC, 4th and last manual (Of the Bones and also of the Gristles and Ligaments […]), page 349, column 2:
Then I ſavv in my Dream, that theſe good Companions, vvhen Chriſtian vvas gone dovvn to the bottom of the Hill, gave him a loaf of Bread, a bottle of VVine, and a cluſter of Raiſins; and then he vvent on his vvay.1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 66:
2
Astronomy, Natural sciences A group of galaxies, nebulae, or stars that appear to the naked eye to be near each other.
The Pleiades cluster contains seven bright stars.
My fellow biotic: You have been selected to receive this transmission because of our shared plight. Few understand us, fewer tolerate us. We must stand together. We must build our own new world. Come. Join us in the Hawking Eta cluster. Only as one body can we right the wrongs done to our kind.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City, Calif.: BioWare/Electronic Arts, →ISBN, PC, scene: Citadel:
3
Chemistry, Natural sciences, Physical sciencesPhysical An ensemble of bound atoms (especially of a metal) or molecules, intermediate in size between a molecule and a bulk solid.
A computer cluster is a collection of two or more computers used to execute a given problem or section. Typically, in a computer cluster, the interconnection network tying the computers together is a local area network (LAN). […] The computers in the cluster communicate among themselves and among the shared memory.2011, Fayez Gebali, “Parallel Computers”, in Algorithms and Parallel Computing (Wiley Series on Parallel Computing and Distributed Computing; 82), Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, section 3.7 (Cluster Computing), page 60:
5
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A logical data storage unit containing one or more physical sectors (see block (noun)).
6
Epidemiology, Medicine, Sciences A group of cases of the same disease occurring around the same place or time.
A leukemia cluster has developed in the town.
7
Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Synonym of lexical bundle (“a sequence of two or more words that occur in a language with high frequency but are not idiomatic”).
examples of clusters would include in accordance with, so far, and the results of
Government, Military, Politics, WarUS In full oak leaf cluster: a small bronze or silver device shaped like a twig of oak leaves and acorns which is worn on a ribbon to indicate that the wearer has been conferred the same award or decoration before; an oakleaf.
10
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music A secundal chord of three or more notes.
11
Human sciences, Linguistics, Phonetics, Phonology, Sciences A pronounceable group of consonants that occur together: a consonant cluster.
The word scrub begins with a cluster of three consonants.
12
Mathematics, Sciences, Statistics In cluster analysis: a subset of a population whose members are similar enough to each other and distinct from others as to be considered a separate group; also, such a grouping in a set of observed data that is statistically significant.
13
A number of individuals (animals or people) collected in one place or grouped together; a crowd, a mob, a swarm.
VVe lou'd him, / But like Beaſts / And Covvardly Nobles, / Gaue vvay vnto your Cluſters, vvho did hoote / Him out o' th' Citty.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi], page 24, column 2:
[T]hey all alight, and then they go to the ſecond gate, and if peraduenture they cannot get in, they ſit there vvithout, as Bees doe in the Sunne, all in a cluſter.1625, [Samuel] Purchas, “The Voyage of Sir Francis Alvarez [i.e., Francisco Álvares], a Portugall Priest, Made vnto the Court of Prete Ianni, the Great Christian Emperour of Ethio”, in Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], 2nd part, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, 7th book, § IIII, page 1045:
2 more examples
As Bees / In ſpring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides, / Poure forth their populous youth about the Hive / In cluſters; they among freſh dews and flowers / Flie to and fro, […]1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 768–772:
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.2013 May–June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, New Haven, Conn.: Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2013, pages 206–207:
14
Euphemistic, Slang Euphemistic form of clusterfuck (“a chaotic situation where everything seems to go wrong”).
The noun is derived from Middle English cluster (“bunch, cluster, spray; compact body or mass, ball”) [and other forms], from Old English cluster, clyster (“cluster, bunch, branch”), from Proto-Germanic *klas-, *klus- (“to clump, lump together”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up; to clench; to amass”)) + *-þrą (suffix forming nouns denoting an instrument or tool). The English word is probably a doublet of clot. The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * Dutch klister (“cluster”) (dialectal) * Icelandic klasi (“cluster; bunch of grapes”) * Low German Kluuster (“cluster”) * Swedish kluster (“cluster”)
1
To collect (animals, people, objects, data points, etc) into clusters (noun sense 1).
Chiefly passive voice
The consciousness of such an action will give her features a nobler life on this illustrious day, than all the jewels that can hang in her hair or can be clustered in her bosom.1712 February 16 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “TUESDAY, February 6, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 294; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 294:
Not less the bee would range her cells, / The furzy prickle fire the dells, / The foxglove cluster dappled bells.1833–1834 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “The Two Voices”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 121:
1 more example
The queen-bee of the children-swarm, the wise little Louise, sate herself down at the window, and four other little heads clustered themselves about her, fervent and inquisitive, and almost pushing her away in their impatient zeal to get a peep at the arrival.1843, Fredrika Bremer, The Home: Or, Family Cares and Family Joys, page 10:
2
To cover (with clusters); to scatter or strew in clusters (within); to distribute (objects) within such that they form clusters.
Chiefly passive voice
The sea is clustered with islands.
3
To form a cluster or group; to assemble, to gather.
The children clustered around the puppy.
[T]he fruite cluſtereth togyther lyke to ſmal grapes, which in the beginning is greene, and afterwarde when it is ripe, al blacke.1578, Rembert Dodoens, “Of Brionie”, in Henry Lyte, transl., A Niewe Herball, or Historie of Plantes: […], London [actually Antwerp]: […] [Hendrik van der Loe for] Gerard Dewes, […], →OCLC, page 380:
4 more examples
VVoes cluſter; rare are ſolitary VVoes; / They love a Train; they tread each other's Heel: […]1742, [Edward Young], “Night the Third. Narcissa. […]”, in The Complaint: Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], and T[homas] Cooper, […], →OCLC, page 6:
I met a little cottage girl, / She was eight years old, she said; / Her hair was thick with many a curl / That cluster'd round her head.1798, [William Wordsworth], “We Are Seven”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], →OCLC, stanza 2, page 110:
Oh grief to think, that grapes of gall / Should cluster round thine healthiest shoot!1827, [John Keble], “Thursday before Easter”, in The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume I, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC, stanza 4, page 134:
[H]is sunny hair / Clustered about his temples like a God's: […]1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “Œnone”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 54: