shepherdess
Americannoun
-
a girl or woman who herds sheep.
-
a rural girl.
Gender
See -ess.
Etymology
Origin of shepherdess
First recorded in 1350–1400, shepherdess is from the Middle English word shepherdesse. See shepherd, -ess
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.
Elizabeth was originally depicted as a shepherdess with a crook and a lamb.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026
Channel 5 controller Ben Frow recently said Our Yorkshire Farm, which follows North Yorkshire shepherdess Amanda Owen and her family, was the broadcaster's most successful factual programme ever.
From BBC • Sep. 4, 2021
But it’s an older character—Bo Peep, a ceramic shepherdess in a yearslong flirtation with Sheriff Woody—who’s the film’s greatest delight and most original creation.
From Slate • Jun. 22, 2019
There’s a credible and dismaying sequence, late in Schnabel’s film, when van Gogh returns to the shepherdess on the track—the one whom he wanted to sketch at the start.
From The New Yorker • Nov. 12, 2018
“Do you think Lady Crowan’s suggestion about the Dresden shepherdess was a good one?”
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
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.
