Multitude, n.
Etymology: [F. multitude, L. multitudo, multitudinis, fr. multus much, many; of unknown origin.]
1. A great number of persons collected together; a numerous collection of persons; a crowd; an assembly. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them. Matt. ix. 36.
2. A great number of persons or things, regarded collectively; as, the book will be read by a multitude of people; the multitude of stars; a multitude of cares. It is a fault in a multitude of preachers, that they uttery neglect method in their harangues. I. Watts. A multitude of flowers As countless as the stars on high. Longfellow.
3. The state of being many; numerousness. They came as grasshoppers for multitude. Judg. vi. 5. The multitude, the populace; the mass of men.
Syn. -- Throng; crowd; assembly; assemblage; commonalty; swarm; populace; vulgar. See Throng.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for multitude; he lists it under army, company, throng.
Where he writes about it:
Multitude expresses number without order or organization; a multitude of armed men is not an army, but a mob. — from army
Company, from the Latin cum, with, and panis, bread, denotes primarily the association of those who eat at a common table, or the persons so associated, table-companions, messmates, friends, and hence is widely extended to include any association of those united permanently or temporarily, for business, pleasure, festivity, travel, etc., or by sorrow, misfortune, or wrong; company may denote an indefinite number (ordinarily more than two), but less than a multitude; in the military sense a company is a limited and definite number of men; company implies more unity of feeling and purpose than crowd, and is a less formal and more familiar word than assemblage or assembly. — 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
Host and multitude both imply vast numbers, but a multitude may be diffused over a great space so as to be nowhere a crowd; host is a military term, and properly denotes an assembly too orderly for crowding. — from throng