Library / English Dictionary

SHEPHERD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A herder of sheep (on an open range); someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock

Synonyms:

sheepherder; sheepman; shepherd

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("shepherd" is a kind of...):

drover; herder; herdsman (someone who drives a herd)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shepherd"):

shepherdess (a woman shepherd)

Derivation:

shepherd (tend as a shepherd, as of sheep or goats)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A clergyman who watches over a group of people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("shepherd" is a kind of...):

clergyman; man of the cloth; reverend (a member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Tend as a shepherd, as of sheep or goats

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "shepherd" is one way to...):

tend (have care of or look after)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

shepherd (a herder of sheep (on an open range); someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Watch over like a shepherd, as a teacher of her pupils

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "shepherd" is one way to...):

guard; ward (watch over or shield from danger or harm; protect)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

For example, infants learning an "ABA" pattern might see a picture of an Alaskan malamute (A) followed by a picture of a German shepherd (B), and finally another Alaskan malamute (A).

(Infants Are Able to Learn Abstract Rules Visually, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

In this space lay a large and heavy flagstone with a rusted iron ring in the centre to which a thick shepherd’s-check muffler was attached.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Our favourite place was beyond Wolstonbury, where we could stretch ourselves upon the soft, springy, chalk grass among the plump little Southdown sheep, chatting with the shepherds, as they leaned upon their queer old Pyecombe crooks, made in the days when Sussex turned out more iron than all the counties of England.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The ‘Planet Nine’ hypothesis suggests that to account for the unusual orbits of these TNOs, there would have to be another planet, believed to be about ten times more massive than Earth, lurking in the distant reaches of the solar system and ‘shepherding’ the TNOs in the same direction through the combined effect of its gravity and that of the rest of the solar system.

(Mystery orbits in outermost reaches of solar system not caused by ‘Planet Nine’, University of Cambridge)

He wore rather baggy grey shepherd’s check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There were milkmaids and shepherdesses, with brightly colored bodices and golden spots all over their gowns; and princesses with most gorgeous frocks of silver and gold and purple; and shepherds dressed in knee breeches with pink and yellow and blue stripes down them, and golden buckles on their shoes; and princes with jeweled crowns upon their heads, wearing ermine robes and satin doublets; and funny clowns in ruffled gowns, with round red spots upon their cheeks and tall, pointed caps. And, strangest of all, these people were all made of china, even to their clothes, and were so small that the tallest of them was no higher than Dorothy's knee.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

From that time forth, strange things happened in the shepherd’s house.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The moonlets, if they exist, may be acting as "shepherd" moons, helping to keep the rings from spreading out.

(Uranus May Have Two Undiscovered Moons, NASA)

We well know that through it corn-land has been turned into pasture, so that flocks of sheep with perchance a single shepherd wander now where once a hundred men had work and wage.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was not so large,—he weighed only one hundred and forty pounds,—for his mother, Shep, had been a Scotch shepherd dog.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)