company vs herd

company

noun
  • A small group of birds or animals. 

  • Any business, whether incorporated or not, that manufactures or sells products (also known as goods), or provides services as a commercial venture. 

  • A group of individuals who work together for a common purpose. 

  • Companionship. 

  • A unit of firefighters and their equipment. 

  • An entity having legal personality, and thus able to own property and to sue and be sued in its own name; a corporation. 

  • The entire crew of a ship. 

  • Social visitors or companions. 

  • An intelligence service. 

  • A unit of approximately sixty to one hundred and twenty soldiers, typically consisting of two or three platoons and forming part of a battalion. 

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. 

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

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

  • To form or put into a herd. 

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