Pastoral
WordNet
adjective
(1) Suggestive of an idyll; charmingly simple and serene
"His idyllic life in Tahiti"
"The pastoral legends of America's Golden Age"
(2) Used of idealized country life
"A country life of arcadian contentment"
"A pleasant bucolic scene"
"Charming in its pastoral setting"
"Rustic tranquility"
(3) Of or relating to a pastor
"Pastoral work"
"A pastoral letter"
(4) Relating to shepherds or herdsmen or devoted to raising sheep or cattle
"Pastoral seminomadic people"
"Pastoral land"
"A pastoral economy"
noun
(5) A literary work idealizing the rural life (especially the life of shepherds)
(6) A letter from a pastor to the congregation
(7) A musical composition that evokes rural life
WiktionaryText
Etymology
, from , + adjective suffix .
Adjective
- Of or pertaining to shepherds; hence, relating to rural life and scenes; as, a pastoral life.
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- He wanders west as far as Memphis, a solitary migrant upon that flat and pastoral landscape. - 1985 McCarthy, Blood Meridian, chapter
- [...] these pastoral farms,/Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke / Sent up, in silence, from among the trees! - 1798 Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey, lines 16-18.
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- Relating to the care of souls, or to the pastor of a church; as, pastoral duties; a pastoral letter.
Noun
- A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; an idyll; a bucolic.
- 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. Moore
- A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically, a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese.
- A letter of the House of Bishops, to be read in each parish.