herd
part of speech
noun (a herd, herds); verb (herd, herds, herded, herding)
meaning for a pupil
1) A herd is a large group of animals of one kind that live and move together, like cows, deer, elephants or horses. tree →
2) To herd animals or people means to move them together as a group. tree →
3) «The herd» can mean ordinary people who all do the same thing. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science and farming, grazing animals live in herds for safety from predators. Farmers and sheepdogs herd animals; teachers sometimes herd children back inside. In stories «follow the herd» means doing what everyone else does without thinking. Phrases: «a herd of cows», «herd together», «herd animals», «follow the herd», «herd immunity».
examples
- A herd of elephants walked to the river. tree →
- The farmer herded the cows into the barn. tree →
- Zebras stay in herds to keep safe from lions. tree →
- The dog herded the sheep into the pen. tree →
- Our teacher herded us back to the classroom. tree →
- Don't just follow the herd — think for yourself. tree →
- A herd of deer ran across the road. tree →
- Vaccines help build herd immunity. tree →
- Help me to herd them, Akela.” tree →
note
Countable. Homophone: «herd» (group of animals) and «heard» (past of hear): «I heard a herd of cows.» Different groups have special names: a flock of sheep or birds, a pack of wolves, a pride of lions, a school of fish.
In the corpora
- A newborn calf stands within about an hour so that it can drink milk and keep up with the herd.
- Stripes might also confuse a lion trying to pick out one zebra from a running herd, but this is less certain.
- Farm vets visit farms to check herds of cows, sheep and pigs.
- In a drought in Tanzania, herds with older matriarchs who remembered an earlier drought survived better.
- Guinea pigs are herd animals, so at least two should live together.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «herd» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.