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Herd

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herd¹

  • /hɜːd/ UK
  • /hɝd/ US

Sounds like heard (most accents) · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)d

Where it comes from

From Middle English herde, heerde, heorde, from Old English hierd, heord (“herd, flock; keeping, care, custody”), from Proto-West Germanic *herdu, from Proto-Germanic *herdō (“herd”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerdʰ- (“file, row, herd”). Cognate with German Herde, Danish hjord, Swedish hjord. Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian herdhe (“nest”) and Serbo-Croatian krdo.

noun herds

  1. collective A number of domestic animals assembled together under the watch or ownership of a keeper. a herd of cattle
  2. collective Any collection of animals gathered or travelling in a company. Zakouma is the last place on Earth where you can see more than a thousand elephants on the move in a single, compact herd.
  3. derogatory, usually A crowd, a mass of people or things; a rabble. I was never one to follow the herd.
  4. collective A collection of things, especially vehicles. Herds of buses spread across the streets.

verb herds · herding · herded

  1. intransitive To unite or associate in a herd; to feed or run together, or in company. Sheep herd on many hills.
  2. transitive To unite or associate in a herd
  3. transitive To manage, care for or guard a herd He is employed to herd the goats.
  4. intransitive To 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, […]
  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.

herd²

  • /hɜːd/ UK
  • /hɝd/ US

Sounds like heard (most accents) · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)d

Where it comes from

From Middle English herde, from Old English hirde, hierde, from Proto-West Germanic *hirdī, from Proto-Germanic *hirdijaz. Cognate with German Hirte, Swedish herde, Danish hyrde.

noun herds

  1. archaic Someone who keeps a group of domestic animals. Near-synonym: herdsman

verb herds · herding · herded

  1. Scotland, intransitive To act as a herdsman or a shepherd.
  2. transitive To form or put into a herd.
  3. transitive To move or drive a herd. I heard the herd of cattle being herded home from a long way away.

Herd³

proper noun

  1. A surname.

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