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′ishne ; 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 engro ed 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 .]