herd
see also: Herd
Pronunciation Etymology 1

From Middle English herde, heerde, heorde, from Old English hierd, heord, from Proto-West Germanic *herdu, from Proto-Germanic *herdō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerdʰ-.

Noun

herd (plural herds)

  1. A number of domestic animals assembled together under the watch or ownership of a keeper. [from 11th c.]
    a herd of cattle
    a herd of sheep
    a herd of goats
    • 1768, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard:
      The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea.
  2. Any collection of animals gathered or travelling in a company. [from 13th c.]
  3. (now, usually, pejorative) A crowd, a mass of people or things; a rabble. [from 15th c.]
    • 1681, [John Dryden], Absalom and Achitophel. A Poem. […], 3rd edition, London: […] J[acob] T[onson] and are to be sold by W. Davis […], published 1682, →OCLC ↗, page 15 ↗:
      But far more numerous was the Herd of ſuch, / Who think too little, and who talk too much.
    • 2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:
      There were herds of leather sofas and enough computers to ensure that no prospective matriculant or visiting parent could enter a room and not see at least one available keyboard, not even in the dining hall or field house.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

herd (herds, present participle herding; simple past and past participle herded)

  1. (intransitive) To unite or associate in a herd; to feed or run together, or in company.
    Sheep herd on many hills.
  2. (transitive) To unite or associate in a herd
  3. (transitive) To manage, care for or guard a herd
    He is employed to herd the goats.
  4. (intransitive) To associate; to ally oneself with, or place oneself among, a group or company.
    • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC ↗, Act III, scene i, pages 39–40 ↗:
      I’ll herd among his Friends, and ſeem
      One of the Number, […]
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC ↗:
      "[W]hy, I say, oh stranger, dost thou think that I herd here with barbarians lower than the beasts?"
  5. To move, or be moved, in a group. (of both animals and people)
    On alighting at the station, we were all herded over the footbridge and through a side exit.
Translations Translations
  • Italian: unirsi
  • Portuguese: arrebanhar-se
Etymology 2

From Middle English herde, from Old English hirde, hierde, from Proto-West Germanic *hirdī, from Proto-Germanic *hirdijaz.

Noun

herd (plural herds)

  1. (now, rare) Someone who keeps a group of domestic animals.
    Synonyms: herder, herdsman
    • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
      John Dodds, the herd who bode in the place, was standing at the door, and he looked to see who was on the road so late.
    • 2000, Alasdair Grey, The Book of Prefaces, Bloomsbury, published 2002, page 38:
      Any talent which gives a good new thing to others is a miracle, but commentators have thought it extra miraculous that England's first known poet was an illiterate herd.
Related terms Translations Verb

herd (herds, present participle herding; simple past and past participle herded)

  1. (intransitive, Scotland) To act as a herdsman or a shepherd.
  2. (transitive) To form or put into a herd.
  3. (transitive) To move or drive a herd.
    I heard the herd of cattle being herded home from a long way away.
Translations Translations
Herd
Proper noun
  1. Surname.



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