herd
1 Americannoun
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a number of animals kept, feeding, or traveling together; drove; flock.
a herd of cattle;
a herd of sheep;
a herd of zebras.
-
Sometimes Disparaging. a large group of people.
The star was mobbed by a herd of autograph seekers.
-
any large quantity.
a herd of bicycles.
-
the herd, the common people; the masses; the rabble.
He had no opinions of his own, but simply followed the herd.
verb (used without object)
idioms
noun
verb
-
to drive forwards in a large group
-
to look after (livestock)
noun
-
a large group of mammals living and feeding together, esp a group of cattle, sheep, etc
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derogatory a large group of people
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derogatory the large mass of ordinary people
verb
Grammar
See collective noun.
Related Words
See flock 1.
Etymology
Origin of herd1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English heord; cognate with Gothic hairda, German Herde
Origin of herd2
First recorded before 900; Middle English herd(e), hirde, Old English hierde, hirde, hyrde; cognate with Gothic hairdeis, German Hirt(e); derivative of herd 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Try hiring journalists who are curious about the world and think for themselves rather than follow the herd.
But it takes intellectual humility, curiosity and bravery to correct those mistakes, and to stray from the herd toward a messy and complicated truth.
He is managing a 400,000 gallon slurry storage tank under the shed where most of his 250-strong herd have spent the winter.
From BBC
He thought so much of that little old farm of ours, he wouldn’t have stopped working to watch a herd of elephants march down the road.
From Literature
I could live all alone, in a mountain cave far away from anyone, and herd goats and live off their milk and whatever the land would give me.
From Literature
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.
