Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of or relating to shepherds or herders.
- adjective Of, relating to, or used for animal husbandry.
- adjective Of or relating to the country or country life; rural.
- adjective Charmingly simple and serene; idyllic. synonym: rural.
- adjective Of, relating to, or being a literary or other artistic work that portrays or evokes rural life, usually in an idealized way.
- adjective Of or relating to a pastor or the duties of a pastor.
- noun A literary or other artistic work that portrays or evokes rural life, usually in an idealized way.
- noun Music A pastorale.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A treatise on the duties of a pastor.
- Pertaining to a herdsman or shepherd, or to flocks or herds; rustic; rural: as, a pastoral life; pastoral manners.
- Descriptive of the life of shepherds; treating of rustic life: as, a pastoral poem.
- Of or pertaining to a pastor or his office, dignity, duties, etc.; relating to the cure of souls: as, the pastoral care of a church; a pastoral visit; pastoral work.
- In churches of the Presbyterian and Congregational orders, the address of counsel made by a clergyman to a pastor on his ordination or installation.
- Synonyms and Rustic, Bucolic, etc. See
rural . - noun A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds, or a poem in which the characters are shepherds or shepherdesses; in general, any poem the subject of which is the country or a country life; a bucolic.
- noun Any work of art of which the subject is rural.
- noun In music, same as
pastorale . - noun A pastoral letter or address.
- noun A shepherd; also, a swineherd.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; an idyl; a bucolic.
- noun (Mus.) A cantata relating to rural life; a composition for instruments characterized by simplicity and sweetness; a lyrical composition the subject of which is taken from rural life.
- noun (Eccl.) A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically, a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese; also (Prot. Epis. Ch.), a letter of the House of Bishops, to be read in each parish.
- adjective Of or pertaining to shepherds; hence, relating to rural life and scenes.
- adjective Relating to the care of souls, or to the pastor of a church
- adjective (Eccl.) a staff, usually of the form of a shepherd's crook, borne as an official emblem by a bishop, abbot, abbess, or other prelate privileged to carry it. See
Crook , andCrosier . - adjective that part of theology which treats of the duties of pastors.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of or pertaining to shepherds; hence, relating to rural life and scenes; as, a pastoral life.
- adjective Relating to the care of souls, or to the pastor of a church; as, pastoral duties; a pastoral letter.
- noun A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; an idyll; a bucolic.
- noun music A cantata relating to rural life; a composition for instruments characterized by simplicity and sweetness; a lyrical composition the subject of which is taken from rural life. Moore
- noun religion, Christianity A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically, a letter addressed by a
bishop to his diocese. - noun religion, Christianity A letter of the House of Bishops, to be read in each parish.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective relating to shepherds or herdsmen or devoted to raising sheep or cattle
- noun a musical composition that evokes rural life
- adjective of or relating to a pastor
- noun a letter from a pastor to the congregation
- noun a literary work idealizing the rural life (especially the life of shepherds)
- adjective (used with regard to idealized country life) idyllically rustic
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Of course all good poetry, descriptive of rural life, is essentially pastoral, or has the effect of the pastoral on the minds of men living in cities; but the class of poetry which I mean, and which you probably understand by the term pastoral, is that in which a farmer's girl is spoken of as a "nymph," and a farmer's boy as a
Lectures on Architecture and Painting Delivered at Edinburgh in November 1853 John Ruskin 1859
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But as readers of Virgil well know, the pastoral is already charged with homoerotic possibilities.
'Put to the Blush': Romantic Irregularities and Sapphic Tropes 2006
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Bishop Vaughan planned what he called a pastoral seminary.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 15: Tournely-Zwirner 1840-1916 1913
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- oh yes, this is what they call the pastoral-feudal stage.
Ring Around the Sun Simak, Clifford D., 1904-1988 1952
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Cody J. Sanders, a Baptist minister and Ph.D. student in pastoral theology and counseling at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas, recently wrote on the Religion Dispatches website about how important it is for churches to act:
Bishop Gene Robinson: How Religion Is Killing Our Most Vulnerable Youth Bishop Gene Robinson 2010
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Cody J. Sanders, a Baptist minister and Ph.D. student in pastoral theology and counseling at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas, recently wrote on the Religion Dispatches website about how important it is for churches to act:
Bishop Gene Robinson: How Religion Is Killing Our Most Vulnerable Youth Bishop Gene Robinson 2010
-
Cody J. Sanders, a Baptist minister and Ph.D. student in pastoral theology and counseling at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas, recently wrote on the Religion Dispatches website about how important it is for churches to act:
Bishop Gene Robinson: How Religion Is Killing Our Most Vulnerable Youth Bishop Gene Robinson 2010
-
Cody J. Sanders, a Baptist minister and Ph.D. student in pastoral theology and counseling at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas, recently wrote on the Religion Dispatches website about how important it is for churches to act:
Bishop Gene Robinson: How Religion Is Killing Our Most Vulnerable Youth Bishop Gene Robinson 2010
-
Cody J. Sanders, a Baptist minister and Ph.D. student in pastoral theology and counseling at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas, recently wrote on the Religion Dispatches website about how important it is for churches to act:
Bishop Gene Robinson: How Religion Is Killing Our Most Vulnerable Youth Bishop Gene Robinson 2010
-
Cody J. Sanders, a Baptist minister and Ph.D. student in pastoral theology and counseling at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas, recently wrote on the Religion Dispatches website about how important it is for churches to act:
Bishop Gene Robinson: How Religion Is Killing Our Most Vulnerable Youth Bishop Gene Robinson 2010
castilloernest commented on the word pastoral
The Great Gatsby
May 4, 2009