shepherd

plural shepherds

1. countableA person who tends sheep, especially a grazing flock.

   It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.

   1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01

   Synonyms: pastor

   1. countableA male sheep tender

      Synonyms: pastor

2. countablefigurativelySomeone who watches over, looks after, or guides somebody.

   The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

   1769, Oxford Standard text, Bible (King James), Psalms 23:1

   1. countablefigurativelyA male watcher/guardian/guider/leader
3. countablefigurativelyChristianityThe pastor of a church; one who guides others in religion.
   1. countablefigurativelyChristianityA male pastor
4. countablepoeticA swain; a rustic male lover.
5. countableA German Shepherd.

   The dirt floor, low ceiling and unfinished stone walls were barely illuminated by candles and a dim string of green decorative lights. A nervous shepherd mix barked at me as a woman tried to calm it. When my eyes adjusted, I saw people in corners.

   2022 May 19, James Verini, “Surviving the Siege of Kharkiv”, in The New York Times Magazine

present singular third person shepherds · participle present shepherding · participle past shepherded · past shepherded

1. transitiveTo watch over; to guide.

   Each entry in this volume was assigned to a different preeminent scholar who was responsible for shepherding that specific entry, and that specific entry alone, into being.

   2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, page viii

   1 more example

   For me has Pain, the sentinel, / Been vigilant / To pace my plot and dwell / Within my tent; / Oft in the night with small alarms / Has stirred me out of rest, / Alert, oppressed, / Till shepherded within thine arms / And on thy breast, / O loving Lady, in the curse of Pain / I have been blest— / […]

   1893, Norman Gale, “In Pain”, in Orchard Songs, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews & John Lane; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 34–35

2. transitiveAustralian rules footballTo 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.

plural Shepherds · alternative Shepard · alternative Shephard · alternative Sheppard · alternative Shepperd

1. countableuncountableAn English surname originating as an occupation.
2. countableuncountableA male given name.
3. A number of places in the United States:
   1. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Boone County, Indiana.
   2. countableuncountableA village in Isabella County, Michigan.
   3. countableuncountableA census-designated place in Yellowstone County, Montana.
   4. countableuncountableA city in San Jacinto County, Texas.