Border collie
- noun
- /ˈbɔrdər ˈkɑli/
- On the farm, the border collie expertly herded the sheep into the pen.
- a handsome Border collie
- Border collie mix
- Border collies can herd sheep
She's a Britney's mountain dog, Beagle and border collie mix.
- She's a Britney's mountain dog, Beagle and border collie mix.
Examples
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I put down my beloved border collie, Vamp, earlier this year.
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The first to greet me as I stepped through the door was the shop mascot, a friendly border collie puppy named Lucy, who came strolling up for some attention.
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You got a beautiful border collie right there.
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"A border collie," I say.
Fiction book (1998) -
A few years ago, um, a border collie that I was handling was stolen.
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I guess Border collies are not known for their sense of humor.
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The most famous Australian red border collie is "Murray" from the TV series "Mad About You."
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Any time he fired it up, the border collie would be driven insane and run around barking at full speed.
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My border collie always urinates in the house when left in the house with my older dogs.
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I've got a border collie; he's so lively—almost like he's on speed—all the time!
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Synonyms
A dog with long, silky fur and a narrow head that herds sheep
A dog trained to move and protect sheep on a farm
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound meaning is directly built from its parts: 'collie' names a herding dog and 'border' indicates origin or association with a boundary area, so a learner who knows both words can infer it is a type of collie from the border region, likely a herding breed. This compositional pattern for breed/place names is common across languages and follows regular noun + noun formation, making it immediately comprehensible to B1 learners.
Etymology
Border collie comes from dogs bred along the border between Scotland and England. The word collie was a common name for a 'sheepdog', so the name shows a sheepdog from the border and that's why it means a very clever dog used for 'herding'.