ally vs herd

ally

verb
  • To join or unite (oneself or itself) against, with, etc., someone or something else. 

  • To unite or form a connection between (people or things), as between families by marriage, or between states by confederacy, league, or treaty. 

  • Chiefly followed by with: to enter into an alliance or unite for a common aim. 

  • Chiefly followed by to or with: to connect or form a relation to (someone or something) by similarity in features or nature. 

noun
  • Something regarded as connected with or related to another thing by similarity in features or nature. 

  • A person who co-operates with or helps another; an associate; a friend. 

  • A person who, or organization which, supports a demographic group subject to discrimination and/or misrepresentation but is not a member of the group; specifically (LGBT), a person who is not a member of the LGBT+ community but is supportive of it. 

  • A person, group, state, etc., which is associated or united by treaty with another for a common (especially military or political) purpose; a confederate. 

  • An organism which is related to another organism through common evolutionary origin; specifically, a species which is closely related to another species, usually within the same family. 

  • A person, group, concept, etc., which is associated with another as a helper; an auxiliary; a supporter. 

herd

verb
  • To associate; to ally oneself with, or place oneself among, a group or company. 

  • To manage, care for or guard a herd 

  • To act as a herdsman or a shepherd. 

  • To unite or associate in a herd 

  • To move or drive a herd. 

  • To unite or associate in a herd; to feed or run together, or in company. 

  • To form or put into a herd. 

noun
  • A number of domestic animals assembled together under the watch or ownership of a keeper. 

  • Any collection of animals gathered or travelling in a company. 

  • A crowd, a mass of people or things; a rabble. 

How often have the words ally and herd occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )