a moving crowd Hordes of puzzled tourists, many with rolling suitcases attached, poured down the staircases. — New York Times (Jan 1, 2012)

"to live or gather in hordes," 1821, from horde (n.). Related: Horded; hording.

1550s, "tribe of Asiatic nomads living in tents," from West Turkic (compare Tatar urda "horde," Turkish ordu "camp, army"), borrowed into English via Polish, French, or S [..]

large crowd of people

a crowd or mass of people

n. A gathered multitude of human beings.

(n) a vast multitude(n) a nomadic community(n) a moving crowd

As described by Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, a politically autonomous social structure divided into families and under the authority of elder men.

A wandering troop or gang; especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people (originally Tatars) migrating from place to place for the sake of pasturage, plunder, etc.; a predatory multitude. A larg [..]

horde