deflock
/ˌdiˈflɑk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To dismantle, destroy, or to otherwise render inoperable a security camera; especially a license plate reader, those placed in public areas, or produced by Flock Safety, Inc.
American usage; Informal
Example Sentences
- "Why is deflocking cameras a good thing?"
- "This is the point where we need to start taking action immediately to get these cameras out of here, so that way, the more vulnerable communities—especially right now with the Trump administration's whole stance of immigration is^([sic]) as hostile as it is—we need to be protecting our friends and our neighbors, and I think [an] easy step to do that is getting cities and towns to deflock."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē-der. English de- Proto-Germanic *flukkaz Proto-West Germanic *flokk Old English flocc Middle English flok English flock English Flock English DeFlock English deflock The verb originates from the DeFlock website, which is a public mapping website that keeps track of the location of security cameras that monitor public areas, usually alongside roads, which monitor and record data while surveilling. The website's name comes from de- (“to remove, to excise”) + Flock, from the company Flock Safety, which is named idiomatically after a flock as there would be so many cameras in relatively close proximity to be similar to a flock.
Word Breakdown
- Prefix: de-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌdiˈflɑk/
Usage
Inflected Forms
deflocks (present, singular)
deflocking (participle, present)
deflocked (participle, past)
deflocked (past)
Derived Forms
deflocker
deflocking