coterie

noun

1. A circle of individuals who associate with one another for a common purpose.

   “The new junior employee joined our merry after-hours coterie.”

   “A tightly knit coterie of executive powerbrokers made all the real decisions in the company.”

   “Baskets of game had reached her house, but not a single line, in his own hand, had met her eye. Better it should be so: Georgiana was not yet in a state to "lure the gentle tassel back," but no thanks to the chattering coterie whom she had courted for the sole purpose of rendering the marquis reassured on the subject of proper acquaintance.”

   “The verses were copied out, handed about, sneered at, admired, passed from coterie to coterie.”

   “The branch was worked by pull-and push ^([sic]) trains, drawn or propelled by one of a small coterie of the sprightly little Wolverhampton type of 0-4-2 side tanks.”

2. A communal burrow of prairie dogs.

   “The coterie was located in the middle of our wheat field.”

   “The population of each coterie constantly changes over a period of a few months or years, by death, birth, and emigration. But the coterie boundary remains about the same, being learned by each prairie dog born into it.”

   “The odd part of prairie dog life is that this friendly state exists only among the members of each coterie, and does not extend between coteries.”

   “Young prairie dogs in a coterie are brothers and sisters. They have the same father and sometimes the same mother. To find a mate from a different family, young prairie dogs must travel to a new area.”