A female shepherd is called a “shepherdess”. Many years ago, when most people lived in the country, shepherding was very common. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat, and especially their wool. We know that there were shepherds in ...
bias (n.) 1520s, "oblique or diagonal line," from French biais "a slant, a slope, an oblique," also figuratively, "an expedient, means" (13c., originally in Old French a past participle adjective, "sideways, askance, against the grain"), a word of unknown origin. Probably it came to French from Old Provençal biais, which has cognates in Old Catalan and Sardinian, and is possibly via Vulgar Latin *(e)bigassius from Greek epikarsios "athwart, crosswise, at an angle," from epi- "upon" + karsios "oblique," from PIE *krs-yo-, suffixed form of root *sker- (1) "to cut."
From French dent-de-lion (“lion's tooth”), also in Late Latin dēns leōnis. The term has since died out in French (except in Swiss French), but compare Spanish diente de león, Portuguese dente-de-leão, Italian dente di leone, German Löwenzahn, Norwegian løvetann, all descendants or loan translations of the Latin term.
lonely (adj.) c. 1600, "solitary, lone; unfrequented," from lone + -ly (1). Meaning "dejected for want of company" is from 1811. Lonely heart (n.) "a lonely-hearted person" is from 1922. Lonely hearted (adj.) is attested from 1820.
lone (adj.) late 14c., "having no companion, solitary, apart from any other," shortening of alone (q.v.) by weakening of stress or else by misdivision of what is properly all one. Used attributively, while the full form is used in the predicate. Compare live (adj.), from alive; colloquial 'long for along. The Lone Star in reference to Texas is first recorded 1843, from its flag when it was a nation. Lone wolf in the figurative sense is 1901, American English.
alone (adj., adv.) "unaccompanied, solitary; without companions, solitary," c. 1300 contraction of all ane, from Old English all ana "unaccompanied, all by oneself," literally "wholly oneself," from all "all, wholly" (see all) + an "one" (see one). It preserves the old pronunciation of one. Similar compounds are found in German (allein) and Dutch (alleen). Sense of "and nothing else" ("Man shall not live on bread alone") is from c. 1200. Related: Aloneness. Adverbial alonely seems to be obsolete since 17c.
mid-15c., "expressing earnest purpose or thought" (of persons), from Middle French sérieux "grave, earnest" (14c.), from Late Latin seriosus, from Latin serius "weighty, important, grave," probably from a PIE root *sehro- "slow, heavy" (source also of Lithuanian sveriu, sverti "to weigh, lift," svarus "heavy, weighty;" Old English swær "heavy," German schwer "heavy," Gothic swers "honored, esteemed," literally "weighty").
As opposite of jesting, from 1712; as opposite of light (of music, theater, etc.), from 1762. Meaning "attended with danger" is from 1800.
