Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who herds, guards, and tends sheep.
  • noun One who cares for and guides a group of people, as a minister or teacher.
  • noun A German shepherd.
  • transitive verb To herd or tend as a shepherd. synonym: guide.
  • transitive verb To guide or lead on a course.
  • transitive verb To direct or instruct in a certain manner.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To tend or guide as a shepherd.
  • To attend or wait on; gallant.
  • To watch over, as a mining claim, and establish a right to it by doing a certain-amount of work on it: said especially of digging small pits in the neighborhood of a rich deposit of gold; hence, to attend or hang about (a person) on the chance of getting something out of him.
  • noun A miner who does not work a claim, though preserving his legal rights respecting it.
  • noun A man who herds, tends, and guards sheep in pasture; a pastor.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb Poetic To tend as a shepherd; to guard, herd, lead, or drive, as a shepherd.
  • noun A man employed in tending, feeding, and guarding sheep, esp. a flock grazing at large.
  • noun The pastor of a church; one with the religious guidance of others.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the crested screamer. See Screamer.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a breed of dogs used largely for the herding and care of sheep. There are several kinds, as the collie, or Scotch shepherd dog, and the English shepherd dog. Called also shepherd's dog.
  • noun a name of Pan.
  • noun the chiefs of a nomadic people who invaded Egypt from the East in the traditional period, and conquered it, at least in part. They were expelled after about five hundred years, and attempts have been made to connect their expulsion with narrative in the book of Exodus.
  • noun (Bot.) the common mullein. See Mullein.
  • noun a long staff having the end curved so as to form a large hook, -- used by shepherds.
  • noun (Bot.) the lady's comb.
  • noun a kind of woolen cloth of a checkered black and white pattern.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a daddy longlegs, or harvestman.
  • noun (Bot.) an annual cruciferous plant (Capsella Bursapastoris) bearing small white flowers and pouchlike pods. See Illust. of Silicle.
  • noun (Bot.) the small teasel.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A person who tends sheep.
  • noun figuratively Someone who watches over, looks after, or guides somebody.
  • verb To watch over; to guide
  • verb Australian rules football For a player to obstruct an opponent from getting to the ball, either when a teammate has it or is going for it, or if the ball is about to bounce through the goal or out of bounds.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a herder of sheep (on an open range); someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock
  • verb watch over like a shepherd, as a teacher of her pupils
  • noun a clergyman who watches over a group of people
  • verb tend as a shepherd, as of sheep or goats

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English shepherde, from Old English scēaphierde : scēap, sheep + hierde, herdsman.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English sceaphierde (scēaphierde), a compound of scēap ("sheep") and hierde ("herdsman").

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Examples

Comments

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  • See wordherd.

    July 29, 2007

  • wordnet's defintion's: a herder of sheep (on an open range); someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock

    May 4, 2010

  • Only Wiktionary has the sporting definition, i.e.

    "v. For a player to obstruct an opponent from getting to the ball, either when a teammate has it or is going for it, or if the ball is about to bounce through the goal or out of bounds."

    This verbal usage is common in Australian rules football and rugby league commentary.

    July 5, 2012

  • Shepherd, a portmanteau of sheep and herd.

    March 8, 2020