to tend or guard as a shepherd.
to shepherd the flock.
to watch over carefully.
Female equivalent: shepherdess. a person employed to tend sheep
a person, such as a clergyman, who watches over or guides a group of people
to guide or watch over in the manner of a shepherd
Australian rules football to prevent opponents from tackling (a member of one's own team) by blocking their path
before 1050; Middle English shepherde, Old English scēphyrde. See sheep, herd 2
A shepherd is a person who herds flocks or groups of animals. If you traveled to Tibet, you might see a yak shepherd. Shepherd comes from the Old English sceaphierde: sheepherder. Such a person protects sheep from animals that would attack them, keeps them from wandering, and otherwise takes care of the flock. The word is also a verb that describes care of a group — sheep, other animals, even people. You might shepherd your herd of goats, or shepherd your younger siblings through the transition from elementary to middle school.
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And how much wolf can you cry before they just take you off shepherd duty?
From Slate • Jun. 12, 2026
“Julie was our shepherd and our protector the whole time we were there,” the singer says of Death Cab’s nearly two-decade run at Atlantic, which began with 2005’s Grammy-nominated “Plans.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026
"They wanted to retrieve the body of a Catholic shepherd who had died of Ebola," the official said on condition of anonymity.
From Barron's • May 25, 2026
“The Sheep Detectives,” where sheep solve the murder of their beloved shepherd, deals with death in a digestible way for kids.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 16, 2026
It was a big dog, a loud dog —a German shepherd, I think, but I can’t be sure.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
