shepherd
Noun:
- A person who herds and tends sheep: A "shepherd" is someone whose job is to care for a flock of sheep, guiding them to pasture and protecting them.
- A spiritual guide or leader: In a religious or metaphorical sense, a "shepherd" is a person, often a clergy member, who provides guidance, care, and leadership to a group of people.
Verb:
- To tend or herd sheep: The action of guiding and caring for a flock of sheep.
- To guide, watch over, or direct carefully: To provide attentive care, protection, or direction to a person or group, similar to how a shepherd cares for sheep.
Noun:
- The shepherd led his flock to the green pasture. (The person who herds sheep guided his animals to the grassy field.)
- The pastor is considered a shepherd to his congregation. (The religious leader is seen as a guide for his church members.)
Verb:
- He will shepherd the sheep through the mountain pass. (He will guide and tend the sheep as they move through the mountain path.)
- The teacher shepherded her young students safely across the busy street. (The teacher carefully guided and watched over her pupils.)
"To shepherd a bill through parliament": To guide a proposed law carefully through the legislative process.
- The senator worked to shepherd the new environmental bill through Congress.
"To shepherd resources": To manage or direct resources with careful oversight.
- The project manager's role is to shepherd the company's budget effectively.
Shepherdess (noun): A female shepherd.
- The shepherdess watched over the lambs.
Shepherding (noun/gerund): The act or occupation of tending sheep or providing guidance.
- The shepherding of the flock is a daily task.
- Herder: One who herds animals.
- Pastor: A spiritual shepherd; a minister.
- Guide: One who leads or directs.
- Guardian: One who protects or watches over.
(Note: "Shepherd" is not commonly used with particles to form standard phrasal verbs. The verb is typically used transitively.) - Shepherd someone/something in/out/through: To guide someone or something carefully into, out of, or through a place or process. - The usher shepherded the latecomers into the theater. - We need to shepherd this project through to completion.
The Good Shepherd: A title for Jesus Christ in the Christian tradition, symbolizing his role as a caring guide and protector for his followers.
- The parable of the Good Shepherd is about care and sacrifice.
To separate the sheep from the goats / To play shepherd: To distinguish between good and bad, or valuable and less valuable, elements within a group. (This idiom references the shepherd's role in sorting animals.)
- The final exam will play shepherd, separating those who studied from those who did not.
- a herder of sheep (on an open range); someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock
- a clergyman who watches over a group of people
- tend as a shepherd, as of sheep or goats
- watch over like a shepherd, as a teacher of her pupils