SHEPHERD

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does shepherd mean? 

• SHEPHERD (noun)
  The noun SHEPHERD has 2 senses:

1. a clergyman who watches over a group of people

2. a herder of sheep (on an open range); someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock

  Familiarity information: SHEPHERD used as a noun is rare.

• SHEPHERD (verb)
  The verb SHEPHERD has 2 senses:

1. watch over like a shepherd, as a teacher of her pupils

2. tend as a shepherd, as of sheep or goats

  Familiarity information: SHEPHERD used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHEPHERD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A clergyman who watches over a group of people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("shepherd" is a kind of...):

clergyman; man of the cloth; reverend (a member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A herder of sheep (on an open range); someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

sheepherder; sheepman; shepherd

Hypernyms ("shepherd" is a kind of...):

drover; herder; herdsman (someone who drives a herd)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shepherd"):

shepherdess (a woman shepherd)

Derivation:

shepherd (tend as a shepherd, as of sheep or goats)

• SHEPHERD (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they shepherd    ... he / she / it shepherds   
Past simple: shepherded   
Past participle: shepherded   
-ing form: shepherding   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Watch over like a shepherd, as a teacher of her pupils

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "shepherd" is one way to...):

guard; ward (watch over or shield from danger or harm; protect)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Tend as a shepherd, as of sheep or goats

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "shepherd" is one way to...):

tend (have care of or look after)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

shepherd (a herder of sheep (on an open range); someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock)

 Context examples 

She was prettier than all the pretty girls that ever were seen before, and a shepherd lad, whose name was Jorindel, was very fond of her, and they were soon to be married.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Two of Uranus' 27 known moons, Ophelia and Cordelia, act as shepherds to Uranus' epsilon ring.

(Uranus May Have Two Undiscovered Moons, NASA)

You wandered out of the fold to seek your shepherd, did you, Jane?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“A sorry shepherd!” said Alleyne humbly.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I'll try to sing the song of the shepherd boy which the Pilgrims heard.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He had his shepherd's son into the parlour one night on purpose to sing to her.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

From his St. Bernard father he had inherited size and weight, but it was his shepherd mother who had given shape to that size and weight.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Whole herds of moments stole away and were lost while their careless shepherd gazed out of the window at the sunshine and the trees.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

In short, I had no peace of my life until he was expatriated, and made (as I afterwards heard) a shepherd of, “up the country” somewhere; I have no geographical idea where.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I greedily devoured the remnants of the shepherd’s breakfast, which consisted of bread, cheese, milk, and wine; the latter, however, I did not like.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)