Sheep

Sheep, shēp, n.sing. and pl. the well-known ruminant mammal covered with wool: leather made from sheep-skin: a silly and timid fellow.—ns. Sheep′-bīt′er (Shak.), one who practises petty thefts; Sheep′-bīt′ing, robbing those under one's care, like an ill-trained shepherd-dog; Sheep′-cote, an enclosure for sheep; Sheep′-dog, a dog trained to watch sheep: (slang) a chaperon.—adj. Sheep′-faced, sheepish, bashful.—ns. Sheep′-farm′er, Sheep′-fold, a fold or enclosure for sheep: a flock of sheep; Sheep′-head, Sheep's′-head, a fool, a stupid and timid person: an American fish of the family Sparidæ, allied to the perches, so called from the shape and colour of the head; Sheep′-hook, a shepherd's crook.—adj. Sheep′ish, like a sheep: bashful: foolishly diffident.—adv. Sheep′ishly.—ns. Sheep′ishness; Sheep′-louse, a parasitic dipterous insect; Sheep′-mar′ket, a place where sheep are sold; Sheep′-mas′ter, a master or owner of sheep; Sheep′-pen, an enclosure for sheep; Sheep′-pest, the sheep-tick; Sheep′-pox, a contagious eruptive disease of sheep, variola ovina; Sheep′-run, a tract of grazing country for sheep; Sheep's′-eye, a modest, diffident look: a loving, wishful glance; Sheep's′-foot, a printer's tool with a claw at one end for prizing up forms; Sheep′-shank (Scot.), the shank of a sheep—hence something slender and weak: a nautical knot for temporarily shortening a rope; Sheep′-shearer, one who shears sheep; Sheep′-shearing; Sheep′-shears, a kind of shears used for shearing sheep; Sheep′-sil′ver, money formerly paid by tenants for release from the service of washing the lord's sheep; Sheep′-skin, the skin of a sheep: leather prepared from the skin of a sheep: a deed engrossed on sheep-skin parchment; Sheep′-steal′er; Sheep′-steal′ing; Sheep's′-wool, a valuable Florida sponge; Sheep′-tick, an insect which attacks the sheep, sucking its blood and raising a tumour; Sheep′walk, the place where the sheep pasture; Sheep′-wash, a lotion for vermin on the sheep, or to preserve its wool—also Sheep′-dip; Sheep′-whis′tling, tending sheep.—Black sheep, the disreputable member of a family or group. [A.S. sceáp; Ger. schaf.]