shepherd

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
17
Words With Friends
16
Letters
8
Pronunciation
/ˈʃɛpəd/
See all 2 pronunciations
/ˈʃɛpəd/ · /ˈʃɛpəɹd/

Definition of shepherd

16 senses · 3 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. (countable)A 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.”
See all 16 definitions

noun

  1. (countable)A 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.”
  2. (countable)A person who tends sheep, especially a grazing flock.
  3. (countable, figuratively)Someone who watches over, looks after, or guides somebody.
    “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
  4. (countable, figuratively)Someone who watches over, looks after, or guides somebody.
  5. (countable, figuratively)The pastor of a church; one who guides others in religion.
  6. (countable, figuratively)The pastor of a church; one who guides others in religion.
  7. (countable, poetic)A swain; a rustic male lover.
  8. (countable)A 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.”

verb

  1. (transitive)To watch over; to guide.
    “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— / […]”
    “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.”
  2. (transitive)To 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.

name

  1. (countable, uncountable)An English surname originating as an occupation.
  2. (countable, uncountable)A male given name.
  3. (countable, uncountable)A number of places in the United States:
  4. (countable, uncountable)A number of places in the United States:
  5. (countable, uncountable)A number of places in the United States:
  6. (countable, uncountable)A number of places in the United States:

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English schepherde, from Old English sċēaphierde, a compound of sċēap (“sheep”) and hierde (“herdsman”), equivalent to modern sheep + herd (“herder”).

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

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