herd

plural herds

1. collectiveA number of domestic animals assembled together under the watch or ownership of a keeper.First known use 11th c.

   a herd of sheep

   3 more examples

   a herd of cattle

   a herd of goats

   The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea.

   1768, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

2. collectiveAny collection of animals gathered or travelling in a company.First known use 13th c.

   Zebras can also be called a herd or a zeal.

   2019 June 6, “A Gaggle, a Confusion and a Conspiracy - Bizarre Animal Collective Group Names”, in BBC, archived from the original on 01 Apr 2021

   1 more example

   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 March, J. Michael Fay, “Ivory Wars: Last Stand in Zakouma”, in National Geographic, section 47

3. derogatoryusuallyA crowd, a mass of people or things; a rabble.First known use 15th c.

   I was never one to follow the herd.

   3 more examples

   But far more numerous vvas the herd of ſuch, / VVho think too little, and vvho talk too much.

   1681, [John Dryden], Absalom and Achitophel. A Poem, London: […] J[acob] T[onson] and are to be sold by W. Davis […], →OCLC, page 17

   You can never interest the common herd in the abstract question.

   1833 June 8, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “(please specify the chapter)”, in H[enry] N[elson] C[oleridge], editor, Specimens of the Table Talk of the Late Samuel Taylor Coleridge. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], published 1835, →OCLC

   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.

   2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections

4. collectiveA collection of things, especially vehicles.

   Herds of buses spread across the streets.

present singular third person herds · participle present herding · participle past herded · past herded

1. intransitiveTo unite or associate in a herd; to feed or run together, or in company.

   Sheep herd on many hills.

   2 more examples

   The women bunched up in little droves and let their tongues clack, and the men herded together and passed a jug around and, to tell the truth, let their tongues clack too.

   1953, Janice Holt Giles, The Kentuckians

   Any predator that preys on animals that herd or school, has to be able to single out one individual to attack.

   1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 167

2. transitiveTo unite or associate in a herd
3. transitiveTo manage, care for or guard a herd

   He is employed to herd the goats.

   Synonyms: wrangle

4. intransitiveTo associate; to ally oneself with, or place oneself among, a group or company.

   I’ll herd among his Friends, and ſeem One of the Number, […]

   1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, pages 39–40

   1 more example

   "[W]hy, I say, oh stranger, dost thou think that I herd here with barbarians lower than the beasts?"

   1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

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.

plural herds

1. archaicSomeone who keeps a group of domestic animals.

   Near-synonym: herdsman

   2 more examples

   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.

   1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

   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, published 2002, page 38

   Synonyms: herder, herdsman

present singular third person herds · participle present herding · participle past herded · past herded

1. ScotlandintransitiveTo act as a herdsman or a shepherd.
2. transitiveTo form or put into a herd.
3. transitiveTo move or drive a herd.

   I heard the herd of cattle being herded home from a long way away.

1. A surname.