shep·herd / ˈshepərd/ • n. a person who tends and rears sheep. ∎ fig. a member of the clergy who provides spiritual care and guidance for a congregation. ∎ short for German shepherd.• v. [tr.] [usu. as n.] (shepherding) tend (sheep) as a shepherd. ∎  [tr.] guide or direct in a particular direction: we were shepherded around with great ceremony. ∎  give guidance to (someone), esp. on spiritual matters: she had to submit the control of her career and money to a group who shepherded her.

586. Shepherd

1. Corin the faithful shepherdess; called “the Virgin of the Grove.” [Br. Lit.: “The Faithful Shepherdess” in Brewer Handbook, 234]
2. Daphnis guards sheep; creator of bucolic poetry. [Gk. Myth.: Kravitz, 75]
3. Jabal father of herdsmen. [O.T.: Genesis 4:20]
4. Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd. [NJ.: John 10:11 –14]
5. Little Bo-peep young shepherdess; searches everywhere for lost flock. [Nurs. Rhyme: Opie, 93]
6. Little Boy Blue asleep while his sheep are in the field. [Nurs. Rhyme: Baring-Gould, 46]

shepherd in biblical usage, the image of the shepherd caring for his flock is a strong one; God is seen as the shepherd of his people, and in Luke 2:8 the shepherds to whom the announcement of the Nativity is made are described as ‘abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night’.

In pastoral poetry, shepherd is a designation of one of the rustic characters; from this, in 16th-century poetry adopting the pastoral convention, the name is often used for the writer and his friends and fellow poets.

Shepherd ★★ 1999 (R)

Offers plenty of cheap thrills as long as you don't expect the plot to make any sense. You've got your basic futuristic nightmare world—this time ruled by rival religious cults who use guns to extend their power. Howell is a sharpshooting mercenary who decides not to follow orders anymore—and there's hell to pay. 86m/C VHS . C. Thomas Howell, Roddy Piper, Robert Carradine, Heidi von Palleske; D: Peter Hayman. VIDEO

shepherd sb. Late OE. sċēaphierde; see SHEEP, HERD2.
Hence vb. XVIII, shepherdess XIV.