herd

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   keep, move, or drive animals

   Who will be herding the cattle when the cowboy dies?

2. 2
   verb

   cause to herd, drive, or crowd together

   We herded the children into a spare classroom

3. 3
   noun

   A number of domestic animals assembled together under the watch or ownership of a keeper.

   a herd of cattle

4. 4
   noun

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   A crowd, a mass of people or things; a rabble.

   I was never one to follow the herd.

6. 6
   verb

   To unite or associate in a herd; to feed or run together, or in company.

   Sheep herd on many hills.

7. 7
   verb

   To manage, care for or guard a herd

   He is employed to herd the goats.

8. 8
   verb

   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, […]

Etymology

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.