pasture
part of speech
noun (a pasture, pastures; pasture — grassland); verb (pasture, pastures, pastured, pasturing)
meaning for a pupil
1) A pasture is a field of grass where cows, sheep, horses or other animals graze. tree →
2) To pasture animals is to put them in a field to eat the grass. tree →
3) (figurative) «Pastures new» or «greener pastures» means a new place or job that might be better. tree →
4) (Bible) In Psalm 23, «He maketh me to lie down in green pastures» is a picture of God caring for people like a shepherd. tree →
sense in the lessons
In geography and farming lessons pastures are grazing land. In the Bible and church, «green pastures» in the 23rd Psalm stands for peace and care. In everyday talk «moving on to pastures new» means starting something new. Phrases: «green pastures», «put out to pasture» (retired), «pastures new».
examples
- The cows are grazing in the pasture. tree →
- The farmer moved the sheep to a fresh pasture. tree →
- «He makes me lie down in green pastures,» says Psalm 23. tree →
- After ten years at the school, our teacher left for pastures new. tree →
- The old horse was put out to pasture. tree →
- Pasture land covers much of New Zealand. tree →
- Soon he found life in the pasture very dull. tree →
note
Countable for fields, uncountable for grassland in general. «Pastures new» (UK, from Milton's poem) and «greener pastures» (US) mean the same. Do not confuse with «pastor» (a minister of a church) or «posture» (how you stand).
In the corpora
- Then shall the lambs feed as in their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall wanderers eat.
- Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! saith the LORD.
- For the LORD despoileth their pasture.
- And the sea-coast shall be pastures, even meadows for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
- He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «pasture» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.