Showing results for German shepherd. Search instead for alan+shepard.

German shepherd

American

[jur-muhn shep-erd] / ˈdʒɜr mən ˈʃɛp ərd /

noun

one of a breed of large shepherd dogs having a coat ranging in color from gray to brindled, black-and-tan, or black, used especially in police work and as a guide for the blind.

German shepherd British

noun

another name for Alsatian

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of German shepherd

1930–35; shepherd probably as translation of German Schäferhund

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"Finn's law" was named after German shepherd Finn, who suffered near-fatal injuries as he protected PC Dave Wardell from an attacker in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, in 2016.

From BBC • Feb. 5, 2026

“All the people across the nation of Malawi are talking about these four German shepherd dogs,” Sekeya said in one post as generic images of the dogs scrolled behind him.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 13, 2026

Carnes grilled steaks as his German shepherd, Cammie, ran around.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 28, 2025

Two years ago, before the Eaton fire would change my life and his, I met Sydney —half German shepherd, half Great Pyrenees and enigma with a capital E.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 11, 2025

Inside the courtroom door they had placed a large metal detector, on the other side of which was an enormous German shepherd held back by a police officer.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023