flash mob
See also: flashmob
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editPerhaps from flash crowd, a term coined by Larry Niven in Flash Crowd (1973), a story about cheap teleportation in the future.
Noun
editflash mob (plural flash mobs)
- A group of people who rapidly assemble, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act, and then quickly disperse. [from 2003]
- 2003 August 4, Otto Pohl, “Berlin Journal; What: Mob Scene. Who: Strangers. Point: None.”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
- Called into being on short notice by Web sites and e-mail distribution lists, flash mobs meet at an appointed time, engage in some organized spontaneity for a few minutes, then rapidly disperse. The activities are innocent, if mysterious, and tend to bring together loose groupings of surprisingly conventional looking young adults.
Derived terms
editTranslations
editgroup converging and dispersing quickly
|