Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Herd

Herd (hẽrd), a. Haired. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Herd (hẽrd), n. [OE. herd, heord, AS. heord; akin to OHG. herta,G. herde, Icel. hjörð, Sw. hjord, Dan. hiord, Goth. haírda; cf. Skr. çardha troop, host.]

1. A number of beasts assembled together; as, a herd of horses, oxen, cattle, camels, elephants, deer, or swine; a particular stock or family of cattle.

The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea. Gray.

☞ Herd is distinguished from flock, as being chiefly applied to the larger animals. A number of cattle, when driven to market, is called a drove.

2. A crowd of low people; a rabble.

But far more numerous was the herd of such Who think too little and who talk too much. Dryden.

You can never interest the common herd in the abstract question. Coleridge.

Herd's grass (Bot.), one of several species of grass, highly esteemed for hay. See under Grass.

Herd, n. [OE. hirde, herde, heorde, AS. hirde, hyrde, heorde; akin to G. hirt, hirte, OHG. hirti, Icel. hirðir, Sw. herde, Dan. hyrde, Goth. haírdeis. See 2d Herd.] One who herds or assembles domestic animals; a herdsman; — much used in composition; as, a shepherd; a goatherd, and the like. Chaucer.

Herd, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Herded; p. pr. & vb. n. Herding.] [See 2d Herd.] 1. To unite or associate in a herd; to feed or run together, or in company; as, sheep herd on many hills.

2. To associate; to ally one's self with, or place one's self among, a group or company.

I'll herd among his friends, and seem One of the number. Addison.

3. To act as a herdsman or a shepherd. [Scot.]

Herd, v. t. To form or put into a herd.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.