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.
- 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. SeeIllust. ofSilicle . - noun (Bot.) the small teasel.
- transitive verb Poetic To tend as a shepherd; to guard, herd, lead, or drive, as a shepherd.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A person who
tends sheep . - noun figuratively Someone who
watches over ,looks after , orguides somebody. - verb To
watch over ; toguide - verb Australian rules football For a player to
obstruct an opponent from getting to the ball, either when ateammate has it or is going for it, or if the ball is about to bounce through thegoal orout 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
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Lest the Jews should suppose that He who was just before described as a "shepherd" is a mere man, He is now described as God.
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Basically, as far as I understand Frye, being a humble shepherd is not enough to make you an ironic “nobody”.
A Theory of Modes and Modalities Hal Duncan 2009
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The child had the nimbleness of a mountain shepherd, and Prometheus — the grace of an almost-god.
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Intending to raise the baby himself, but not possessing of the means to do so, the shepherd gives it to a fellow shepherd from a distant land, who spends the summers sharing pastureland with his flocks.
Capsule Summaries of the Great Books of the Western World Jonathan Aquino 2009
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His father was Brown, a wolf-dog that had been brought down from Alaska, and his mother was a half-wild mountain shepherd dog.
The Other Animals 2010
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Intending to raise the baby himself, but not possessing of the means to do so, the shepherd gives it to a fellow shepherd from a distant land, who spends the summers sharing pastureland with his flocks.
Archive 2009-03-01 Jonathan Aquino 2009
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Also, they think Tar, our bear-like german shepherd, is the cutest thing that ever lived.
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The lamb version is often called shepherd's pie but neither term is exact.
Archive 2008-09-01 2008
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God is called a shepherd to his people see Psalm 77:20, 78:71, 80:1.
101 Amazing Truths about Jesus Mark Littleton 2007
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The shepherd is astonished, because that is exactly right.
oroboros commented on the word shepherd
See wordherd.
July 29, 2007
dario commented on the word shepherd
wordnet's defintion's: a herder of sheep (on an open range); someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock
May 4, 2010
bilby commented on the word shepherd
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
natalie_portmanteaux commented on the word shepherd
Shepherd, a portmanteau of sheep and herd.
March 8, 2020