cowherd

noun

cow·​herd ˈkau̇-ˌhərd How to pronounce cowherd (audio)
: one who tends cows

Examples of cowherd in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The girl and the cowherd are separated by a celestial river, but are able to be together one day a year when a flock of magpies forms a bridge over it. Gia Kourlas, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2024 Caterina was foisted off on a cowherd in a neighboring village, while Ser Piero married into a wealthy family. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 10 Feb. 2023 In Rushdie’s vision, the city of Vijayanagar — the name means Victory City — is a place of magic and miracles that owes its existence to its creator, the poet Kampana, who blesses seeds and gives them to the cowherd brothers. Elizabeth A. Harris, New York Times, 25 Jan. 2023 Its name honored one of the first Old English poets, a 7th century cowherd who was said to have waked up from a dream with the gift of verse and song. Harrison Smith, Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2023 Around us, the valley slopes seem to touch the sky, covered in the Alpine forests where Hans Binder, the family patriarch and Natalie’s grandfather, had worked as a cowherd and logger to earn the money to buy the family sawmill. National Geographic, 13 Jan. 2020 All sides are discovering that federal lands, run well, are neither a fiefdom of Washington nor a bulwark against wrongheaded cowherds. Mark Sappenfield, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 May 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cowherd.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cowherd was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near cowherd

Cite this Entry

“Cowherd.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cowherd. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

cowherd

noun
cow·​herd -ˌhərd How to pronounce cowherd (audio)
: one who tends cows

More from Merriam-Webster on cowherd

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