Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A girl or woman who herds, guards, and tends sheep.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A woman who tends sheep; a rural lass.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A woman who tends sheep; hence, a rural lass.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A female shepherd.
  • noun A large and deep armchair with a cushion.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a woman shepherd

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

shepherd +‎ -ess

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word shepherdess.

Examples

  • In it the shepherdess is standing by her flock engrossed in her knitting.

    On Sewing Linda 2007

  • I call our shepherdess Honorine even though perhaps not infallibly naming the sociable soubrette who might, with all her gay bold confidence, have been an official inspectress in person, and to whose easy care or, more particularly, expert sensibility and candour of sympathy and curiosity, our flock was freely confided.

    A Small Boy and Others Henry James 1879

  • As easy as a shepherdess, which is what bergere means in French.

    Home Swell Home Cynthia Rowley 2002

  • As easy as a shepherdess, which is what bergere means in French.

    Home Swell Home Cynthia Rowley 2002

  • As easy as a shepherdess, which is what bergere means in French.

    Home Swell Home Cynthia Rowley 2002

  • Melrose and Von Behrens honours crowded each other -- here was the thin old silver "shepherdess" cup awarded that Johanna von Behrens who had won a prize with her sheep, while Washington was yet a boy; and here the quaint tortoise-shell snuff-box that a great prince, homeless and unknown, had given the American family that took him in; and the silver buttons from Lafayette's waistcoat that the great Frenchman had presented Colonel Horace Murison of the "Continentals."

    The Beloved Woman Kathleen Thompson Norris 1923

  • "shepherdess," fed the poultry with Edwin, pulled off her jewelled ornaments, and gave them to Walter for playthings; nay, she even washed off her rouge at the spring, and came in with faint natural roses upon her faded cheeks.

    John Halifax, Gentleman 1897

  • "shepherdess," fed the poultry with Edwin, pulled off her jewelled ornaments, and gave them to Walter for playthings; nay, she even washed off her rouge at the spring, and came in with faint natural roses upon her faded cheeks.

    John Halifax, Gentleman Dinah Maria Mulock Craik 1856

  • He says he found me with goats and sheep — that I was some kind of shepherdess in the jungle! "

    African Dreamer Bennetts, Leslie 1996

  • I have seen one of this man's works that showed a shepherdess in the mountains of Norway.

    The Beautiful Art Of Hans Dahl (1839-1937) 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.