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Glite Dictionary
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mobbing

mobbing

7.1
Several animals, often birds, attacking a predator to drive it away
  • noun
  • /ˈmɑbɪŋ/
  • Specialized
: acoso
  • During the summer, the terns were seen mobbing any intruder that got too close to their breeding area.
  • mobbing behavior

Examples

  • The spectral tarsiers' mobbing of a predator is a total surprise.

    Academic text (2010)

  • For nearly thirty minutes, the tarsiers lunge and retreat; even the individual I was following earlier arrives to join in the mobbing.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Mobbing is but one of the enigmas about spectral tarsiers that have captured my attention over the past two decades.

    Academic text (2010)

  • And the tarsiers' mobbing behavior may be comparable to the way their ancestors and other early primates responded to predators.

    Academic text (2010)

  • I observed that adult females regularly attended mobbings, but they were usually passive participants, alarm-calling nearby and watching from a safe distance.

    Academic text (2010)

  • To my knowledge, there were a number of common hypotheses to explain mobbing behavior, all suggesting some practical, protective outcome, such as driving away the predator.

    Academic text (2010)

  • In the wild, many birds engage in mobbing behavior to drive away a hawk that threatens their nest.

  • The flock of sparrows performed a coordinated mobbing of the cat, ensuring it could not approach them.

Antonyms

to protect
∞ 1.0

To keep someone or something safe from harm

to defend
∞ 1.3

To protect people and things from attack or harm

How Aggressive

assault
  • Specialized
378 4.5
attack
∞ 1.4
mobbing
  • Specialized
7.1
harassment
596 4.6
disturbance
45 3.7

Surface Forms

mobbing singular
mobbings plural

Morphology

mobbing = mob (transparent) = mob + ing

Standard agent/process nominalization from 'mob'; in animal behavior this denotes the act of a group attacking or harassing a predator, which follows directly from the base verb.

Etymology

In nature, mobbing describes when many animals, often birds, join together to chase a predator, from the same idea of a mob 'attacking' to drive something away. So animal mobbing is a group working together to protect nests or territory.