herd
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also Herd
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[edit] English
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Etymology 1
Old English heord, from Proto-Germanic *herdō, from Proto-Indo-European *kerdha. Cognate with German Herde, Swedish hjord.
[edit] Noun
herd (plural herds)
- A number of domestic animals assembled together under the watch or ownership of a keeper. [from 11th c.]
- 1768, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,
- The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea.
- 1768, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,
- Any collection of animals gathered or travelling in a company. [from 13th c.]
- 2007, J. Michael Fay, Ivory Wars: Last Stand in Zakouma, National Geographic (March 2007), 47,
- Zakouma is the last place on Earth where you can see more than a thousand elephants on the move in a single, compact herd.
- 2007, J. Michael Fay, Ivory Wars: Last Stand in Zakouma, National Geographic (March 2007), 47,
- A crowd, a mass of people; now usually pejorative: a rabble. [from 15th c.]
- But far more numerous was the herd of such / Who think too little and who talk too much. Dryden.
- You can never interest the common herd in the abstract question. Coleridge.
[edit] Translations
number of beasts assembled together
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crowd of low people
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[edit] Verb
herd (third-person singular simple present herds, present participle herding, simple past and past participle herded)
- (intransitive) To unite or associate in a herd; to feed or run together, or in company.
- Sheep herd on many hills.
- (intransitive) To associate; to ally one's self with, or place one's self among, a group or company.
- (Can we date this quote?) I’ll herd among his friends, and seem One of the number. Addison.
[edit] Translations
to unite or associate in a herd
[edit] Etymology 2
Old English hirde, hierde, from Proto-Germanic *hirdijaz. Cognate with German Hirte, Swedish herde, Danish hyrde.
[edit] Noun
herd (plural herds)
- (now rare) Someone who keeps a group of domestic animals; a herdsman.
- 2000, Alasdair Grey, The Book of Prefaces, Bloomsbury 2002, p. 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.
- 2000, Alasdair Grey, The Book of Prefaces, Bloomsbury 2002, p. 38:
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Related terms
terms related to herd (person who tends a herd)
[edit] Translations
herdsman
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
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[edit] Verb
herd (third-person singular simple present herds, present participle herding, simple past and past participle herded)
- (intransitive, Scotland) To act as a herdsman or a shepherd.
- (transitive) To form or put into a herd.
- I heard the herd of cattle being herded home from a long way away.
[edit] Translations
to act as a herdsman
[edit] See also
[edit] Old High German
[edit] Etymology
West Germanic *hertha, whence also Old English heorþ
[edit] Noun
herd m.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English nouns
- English verbs
- English terms with rare senses
- Scottish English
- English collective nouns
- Old High German terms derived from West Germanic languages
- Old High German nouns