herd
- 01 B1 Intermediate
n.a large group of animals of the same type that live and move together.
n.a large group of animals, especially hoofed mammals, that live, feed, or migrate together.
Simple“A large herd of cows was grazing peacefully in the green field.”
In context“The vast herd of wildebeest began its annual migration across the plains, attracting predators from miles away.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a large group of people, often used when you think they are all acting the same way without thinking.
n.a large group of people, typically used pejoratively to imply a lack of individual thought or a tendency to follow others blindly.
Simple“I didn't want to follow the herd, so I decided to start my own business.”
In context“The marketing campaign was designed to appeal to the herd mentality of consumers who feel the need to own the latest gadgets.”
- 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to make a group of people or animals move together in a certain direction.
v.to gather and move a group of animals or people in a specific direction, often with some difficulty.
Simple“The teachers tried to herd the excited children into the school bus.”
In context“Security guards worked quickly to herd the protesters away from the main entrance before the delegates arrived.”
UsageOften used with prepositions like 'into' or 'towards'.
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.
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.