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a. A group of cattle or other large herbivorous mammals of a single kind kept together for a specific purpose.
b. A number of wild animals of one species, especially large herbivorous mammals, that remain together as a group: a herd of elephants.
a. A large number of people; a crowd: a herd of stranded passengers.
b. The multitude of common people regarded as a mass: "It is the luxurious and dissipated who set the fashions which the herd so diligently follow" (Henry David Thoreau).
v. herd·ed, herd·ing, herds
1. To gather, keep, or drive (animals) in a herd.
2. To tend (sheep or cattle).
3. To gather and place into a group or mass: herded the children into the auditorium.

[Middle English, from Old English heord.]

herd′er n.


 (hĕr′dər), Johann Gottfried von 1744-1803.
German philosopher and writer whose theory of culture and advocacy of intuition over rationality greatly influenced Goethe and formed the basis of German romanticism.


(Agriculture) chiefly US a person who cares for or drives herds of cattle or flocks of sheep, esp on an open range. Brit equivalent: herdsman


(German ˈhɛrdər)
(Biography) Johann Gottfried von (joˈhan ˈɡɔtfriːt fɔn). 1744–1803, German philosopher, critic, and poet, the leading figure in the Sturm und Drang movement in German literature. His chief work is Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man (1784–91)


(ˈhɜr dər)

a person in charge of a herd.


(ˈhɛər dər)

Johann Gottfried von, 1744–1803, German philosopher and critic.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.Herder - German philosopher who advocated intuition over reason (1744-1803)
2.herder - someone who drives a herdherder - someone who drives a herd    
goat herder, goatherd - a person who tends a flock of goats
hired hand, hired man, hand - a hired laborer on a farm or ranch; "the hired hand fixed the railing"; "a ranch hand"
sheepherder, sheepman, shepherd - a herder of sheep (on an open range); someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock
pigman, swineherd - a herder or swine
References in classic literature ?
In process of time, thanks to his intimate knowledge of drill and musketry exercise, the excellent Mulcahy, wearing the corporal's stripe, went out in a troopship and joined Her Majesty's Royal Loyal Musketeers, commonly known as the "Mavericks," because they were masterless and unbranded cattle - sons of small farmers in County Clare, shoeless vagabonds of Kerry, herders of Ballyvegan, much wanted "moonlighters" from the bare rainy headlands of the south coast, officered by O'Mores, Bradys, Hills, Kilreas, and the like.
All the jungle knows thou wast a herder of tame cattle--such a man's brat as shouts in the dust by the crops yonder.
Mongolia's winters have destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of herders, forcing them to move to the capital, Ulaanbaatar, in search of work.
Therefore any revenge attack by the armed herders on Kamba's would be misdirected.
By JOSEPH NGUNJIRIWhen drought started in Kajiado County at the end of last year, hundreds of herders were left helpless.
Settlers normally chase herders in the open West Bank fields and often either seize or slaughter their livestock, which is often the main source of income to the Palestinian families.
Fulani herders in Ekiti and South West have taken a traditional oath binding on them to assure the host communities in Ekiti, and by extension, the South West Nigeria, that they would no longer behave unruly, kill or allow their cows to stray into farms.
Herders return to the Arizona Strip brings his journey full circle as he began his BLM career 30 years ago as a biological technician at the Arizona Strip District Office, where he worked for 20 years.
A government official told Sudan Tribune on the condition of anonymity that a local resident notified the police that armed herders have infringed on his farm and threatened to kill him.