shepherdess

From Middle English scheperdesse, shepperdesse; equivalent to shepherd +‎ -ess.

shepherdess (plural shepherdesses, masculine shepherd)

1. A female shepherd.
   • 1709, Anthony Aston, The Coy Shepherdess page 18
   • 1763, Select Moral Tales. (The Good Mother, The Shepherdess of the Alps) page 83

     I thought it a crime to refuse nature the maintenance of a life much more grievous than death. I changed my* dress for the simple habit of a shepherdess, and embraced this state as my only refuge; since that time all my consolation has been to weep over this grave, which shall be my own.

   • 1778, The Dramatick Works of Beaumont and Fletcher page 115

     A Faithful Shepherdess

   • 1778, Fortunate Shepherdess
   • 1854, Swiss Shepherdess Morning Song, Or, The Merry Woodland Maid
   • 1858, Mariette, the Swiss Shepherdess
   • 1887, A Border Shepherdess
   • September 2014, New York Film Festival to Revive Paul Grimault’s Animated Classic IndieWire

     the satirical The King And The Mockingbird follows a chimney sweep and shepherdess on the run from a tyrannical king

   • November 2014, It’s Taken Decades, But the Surreal Animated Film The King and the Mockingbird Is Finally Here Vulture

     The king is in love with a beautiful shepherdess in a painting on his wall, but she herself is in love with the handsome chimney sweep in the painting beside her.

2. A large and deep armchair with a cushion.

• (female shepherd): pastoress, pastrix (rare)