Group, n.
Etymology: [F groupe, It. gruppo, groppo, cluster, bunch, packet, group; of G. origin: cf. G. krepf craw, crop, tumor, bunch. See Crop, n.]
1. A cluster, crowd, or throng; an assemblage, either of persons or things, collected without any regular form or arrangement; as, a group of men or of trees; a group of isles.
2. An assemblage of objects in a certain order or relation, or having some resemblance or common characteristic; as, groups of strata.
3. (Biol.)
A variously limited assemblage of animals or planta, having some resemblance, or common characteristics in form or structure. The term has different uses, and may be made to include certain species of a genus, or a whole genus, or certain genera, or even several orders.
2 more senses
4. (Mus.)
A number of eighth, sixteenth, etc., notes joined at the stems; -- sometimes rather indefinitely applied to any ornament made up of a few short notes.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Group, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Grouped; p. pr. & vb. n. Grouping.]
To form a group of; to arrange or combine in a group or in groups, often with reference to mutual relation and the best effect; to form an assemblage of. The difficulty lies in drawing and disposing, or, as the painters term it, in grouping such a multitude of different objects. Prior. Grouped columns (Arch.), three or moro columns placed upon the same pedestal.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for group; he lists it under company, flock.
Where he writes about it:
A group is small in number and distinct in outline, clearly marked off from all else in space or time. — from company
Collection, crowd, gathering, group, and multitude have the unorganized and promiscuous character of the assemblage; the other terms come under the general idea of assembly. — from company
Group is the general word for any gathering of a small number of objects, whether of persons, animals, or inanimate things. — from flock
Bevy is used of birds, and figuratively of any bright and lively group of women or children, but rarely of men. — from flock