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Pastoral
//ˈpæs.tə.ɹəl// adj, noun
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Of or pertaining to shepherds or herders of other livestock.
"Like the Mesolithic age of 10,000-8000 B.C., the period 6000-4000 B.C. seems to be one of the fall of fortresses and the rise of pastoral nomadism."
- 2 Relating to rural life and scenes, in particular of poetry.
"We were living a pastoral life."
- 3 Relating to the care of souls, to the pastor of a church or to any local religious leader charged with the service of individual parishioners, i.e. a priest or rabbi.
"pastoral duties"
Adjective
- 1 (used with regard to idealized country life) idyllically rustic wordnet
- 2 of or relating to a pastor wordnet
- 3 relating to shepherds or herdsmen or devoted to raising sheep or cattle wordnet
Noun
- 1 A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; an idyll; a bucolic.
"Ethel was silent from surprise: she had prepared herself for anger—even sorrow; but ridicule left her without an answer. What could she say to a hearer, who only smiled, and to whom emotion was only a scene in a pastoral?"
- 2 a literary work idealizing the rural life (especially the life of shepherds) wordnet
- 3 A cantata relating to rural life; a composition for instruments characterized by simplicity and sweetness; a lyrical composition the subject of which is taken from rural life.
- 4 a letter from a pastor to the congregation wordnet
- 5 A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically, a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese.
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- 6 a musical composition that evokes rural life wordnet
- 7 A letter of the House of Bishops, to be read in each parish.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle French, Old French pastoral, from Latin pāstōrālis, from pāstor (“shepherd”), + adjective suffix -ālis.
Etymology 2
From Middle French, Old French pastoral, from Latin pāstōrālis, from pāstor (“shepherd”), + adjective suffix -ālis.
See also for "pastoral"
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