Pastoral \Pas"tor*al\, a. [L. pastoralis: cf. F. pastoral. See
   Pastor.]
   1. Of or pertaining to shepherds; hence, relating to rural
      life and scenes; as, a pastoral life.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Relating to the care of souls, or to the pastor of a
      church; as, pastoral duties; a pastoral letter.
      [1913 Webster]

   Pastoral staff (Eccl.), a staff, usually of the form of a
      shepherd's crook, borne as an official emblem by a bishop,
      abbot, abbess, or other prelate privileged to carry it.
      See Crook, and Crosier.

   Pastoral Theology, that part of theology which treats of
      the duties of pastors.
      [1913 Webster]

	

	Pastoral \Pas"tor*al\, n.
   1. A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a
      poem in which the speakers assume the character of
      shepherds; an idyl; a bucolic.
      [1913 Webster]

            A pastoral is a poem in which any action or passion
            is represented by its effects on a country life.
                                                  --Rambler.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Mus.) 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 (Encyc. of Music).
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Eccl.) A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically,
      a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese; also (Prot.
      Epis. Ch.), a letter of the House of Bishops, to be read
      in each parish.
      [1913 Webster]

	

	pastoral
    adj 1: of or relating to a pastor; "pastoral work"; "a pastoral
           letter"
    2: relating to shepherds or herdsmen or devoted to raising sheep
       or cattle; "pastoral seminomadic people"; "pastoral land"; "a
       pastoral economy" [syn: bucolic, pastoral]
    3: (used with regard to idealized country life) idyllically
       rustic; "a country life of arcadian contentment"; "a pleasant
       bucolic scene"; "charming in its pastoral setting"; "rustic
       tranquility" [syn: arcadian, bucolic, pastoral]
    n 1: a musical composition that evokes rural life [syn:
         pastorale, pastoral, idyll, idyl]
    2: a letter from a pastor to the congregation
    3: a literary work idealizing the rural life (especially the
       life of shepherds)

	

	286 Moby Thesaurus words for "pastoral":
   Alcaic, Anacreontic, Arcadian, Castalian, Edenic, English sonnet,
   Grand Guignol, Homeric, Horatian ode, Hudibrastic, Italian sonnet,
   Passion play, Petrarchan sonnet, Pierian, Pindaric, Pindaric ode,
   Sapphic ode, Shakespearean sonnet, Theocritean, Tom show, abbatial,
   abbatical, agrarian, agrestic, agricultural, airscape, alba,
   anacreontic, antimasque, arcadian, archiepiscopal, at peace,
   audience success, balada, ballad, ballade, ballet, bardic,
   bloodless, bomb, broadcast drama, bucolic, burlesque show, calm,
   campestral, canonical, canso, capitular, capitulary, chanson,
   charade, churchly, cityscape, clerical, clerihew, cliff hanger,
   closet drama, cloudscape, comedy drama, concordant, countrified,
   country, critical success, daytime serial, dialogue, didactic,
   diorama, dirge, dithyramb, dithyrambic, documentary drama, drama,
   dramalogue, dramatic, dramatic play, dramatic series, duodrama,
   duologue, ecclesiastic, ecclesiastical, eclogic, eclogue, elegiac,
   elegy, epic, epic theater, epigram, episcopal, episcopalian,
   epithalamium, epode, epopee, epopoeia, epos, evangelistic,
   experimental theater, exterior, extravaganza, failure, farm,
   farming, farmscape, flop, gasser, genuine, georgic, ghazel,
   giveaway, haiku, halcyon, happening, harmonious, heroic, hit,
   hit show, homespun, humble, idyll, idyllic, improvisational drama,
   inartificial, innocent, interior, jingle, landscape,
   legitimate drama, limerick, lowland, lyric, madrigal, masque,
   melodrama, ministerial, minstrel show, miracle, miracle play,
   mock-heroic, monodrama, monody, monologue, morality, morality play,
   music drama, musical revue, mystery, mystery play, narrative,
   narrative poem, native, natural, naturelike, nursery rhyme, ode,
   opera, orderly, outland, pacific, pageant, palinode, panel show,
   pantomime, pastoral drama, pastoral elegy, pastorela, pastourelle,
   peaceable, peaceful, peacetime, piece, piping, placid, play,
   playlet, poem, poetic, poetico-mystical, poetico-mythological,
   poetico-philosophic, poetlike, prelatial, prelatic, priest-ridden,
   priestish, priestly, problem play, prothalamium, provincial,
   psychodrama, quiet, quiz show, rabbinic, radio drama, restful,
   review, revue, rhapsodic, rhyme, riverscape, rondeau, rondel,
   roundel, roundelay, runic, rural, rustic, sacerdotal, sapphic,
   satire, scape, scene, seapiece, seascape, sensational play, serene,
   serial, sestina, show, simple, sitcom, situation comedy, skaldic,
   sketch, skit, skyscape, sloka, snowscape, soap, soap opera,
   sociodrama, soft, song, sonnet, sonnet sequence, spectacle,
   stage play, stage show, straight drama, success, suspense drama,
   tableau, tableau vivant, talk show, tanka, teleplay,
   television drama, television play, tenso, tenzone,
   theater of cruelty, threnody, total theater, townscape, tranquil,
   triolet, troubadour poem, ultramontane, unadorned, unaffected,
   unartificial, unassuming, uncomplicated, undesigning, undisguising,
   undissembling, undissimulating, unembellished, unfeigning,
   unpretending, unpretentious, unspoiled, untroubled, unvarnished,
   upland, variety show, vaudeville, vaudeville show, vehicle, verse,
   verselet, versicle, view, villanelle, virelay, waterscape,
   word-of-mouth success, work