goatherd
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of goatherd
before 1000; Middle English; Old English gāthyrde. See goat, herd 2
Explanation
A goatherd is someone who herds and cares for a group of goats. In India and other parts of South Asia, goatherds raise animals whose wool is used to make cashmere sweaters. Goatherd comes from the Old English gat-hyrde, or goat herder. Anyone who tends to a herd of goats can call themselves a goatherd, whether they're raising them for their fleecy coats or using their milk to make goat cheese. Herding goats involves moving them from one field or pasture to another, because they're constantly chewing vegetation. Some goatherds corral their goats in areas where invasive plants are a problem: goats are even used to eradicate poison ivy.
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.
An old goatherd imparts sage advice, telling Damien that “time shifts for the grieving. Our bodies change; things don’t quite appear the same anymore.”
From Seattle Times • Aug. 28, 2023
His father, a goatherd, added to his income with railroad construction work.
From Washington Post • Aug. 19, 2022
Gloria Putnam is the goatherd of this motley tribe, and she walks among them, picking mistletoe tangled in an oak to feed the matriarch of the herd, an 11-year-old named Rosie.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 16, 2018
Pleased with the elegance of this solution, he booked a flight to Switzerland, and arranged a rendezvous with a goatherd.
From The New Yorker • May 23, 2016
The goatish goatherd clambered up the wall, toes in the chinks, and slipped through to the storeroom.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
