*sheep*

n. An Asiatic wild sheep (Ovis poli) with exceptionally large horns; sometimes considered a variety of the argali: Ovis ammon poli. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. sing. & pl. [ OE. shep, scheep, AS. sc&unr_;p, sceáp; akin to OFries. sk&unr_;p, LG. & D. schaap, G. schaf, OHG. scāf, Skr. chāga. √295. Cf. Sheepherd. ] 1. (Zool.) Any one of several species of ruminants of the genus Ovis, native of the higher mountains of both hemispheres, but most numerous in Asia. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The domestic sheep (Ovis aries) varies much in size, in the length and texture of its wool, the form and size of its horns, the length of its tail, etc. It was domesticated in prehistoric ages, and many distinct breeds have been produced; as the merinos, celebrated for their fine wool; the Cretan sheep, noted for their long horns; the fat-tailed, or Turkish, sheep, remarkable for the size and fatness of the tail, which often has to be supported on trucks; the Southdowns, in which the horns are lacking; and an Asiatic breed which always has four horns. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A weak, bashful, silly fellow. Ainsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. pl. Fig.: The people of God, as being under the government and protection of Christ, the great Shepherd. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rocky mountain sheep.(Zool.) See Bighorn. --
Maned sheep. (Zool.) See Aoudad. --
Sheep bot (Zool.), the larva of the sheep botfly. See Estrus. --
Sheep dog (Zool.), a shepherd dog, or collie. --
Sheep laurel (Bot.), a small North American shrub (Kalmia angustifolia) with deep rose-colored flowers in corymbs. --
Sheep pest (Bot.), an Australian plant (Acaena ovina) related to the burnet. The fruit is covered with barbed spines, by which it adheres to the wool of sheep. --
Sheep run, an extensive tract of country where sheep range and graze. --
Sheep's beard (Bot.), a cichoraceous herb (Urospermum Dalechampii) of Southern Europe; -- so called from the conspicuous pappus of the achenes. --
Sheep's bit (Bot.), a European herb (Jasione montana) having much the appearance of scabious. --
Sheep pox (Med.), a contagious disease of sheep, characterixed by the development of vesicles or pocks upon the skin. --
Sheep scabious. (Bot.) Same as Sheep's bit. --
Sheep shears, shears in which the blades form the two ends of a steel bow, by the elasticity of which they open as often as pressed together by the hand in cutting; -- so called because used to cut off the wool of sheep. --
Sheep sorrel. (Bot.), a prerennial herb (Rumex Acetosella) growing naturally on poor, dry, gravelly soil. Its leaves have a pleasant acid taste like sorrel. --
Sheep's-wool (Zool.), the highest grade of Florida commercial sponges (Spongia equina, variety gossypina). --
Sheep tick (Zool.), a wingless parasitic insect (Melophagus ovinus) belonging to the Diptera. It fixes its proboscis in the skin of the sheep and sucks the blood, leaving a swelling. Called also sheep pest, and sheep louse. --
Sheep walk, a pasture for sheep; a sheep run. --
Wild sheep. (Zool.) See Argali, Mouflon, and Oorial. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Geol.) A rounded knoll of rock resembling the back of a sheep. -- produced by glacial action. Called also roche moutonnée; -- usually in the plural. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The edible fruit of a small North American tree of the genus Viburnum (Viburnum Lentago), having white flowers in flat cymes; also, the tree itself. Called also nannyberry. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To bite or nibble like a sheep; hence, to practice petty thefts. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who practices petty thefts. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

There are political sheepbiters as well as pastoral; betrayers of public trusts as well as of private. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. A small inclosure for sheep; a pen; a fold. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Over-bashful; sheepish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A fold or pen for sheep; a place where sheep are collected or confined. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Silly; simple-minded; stupid. Taylor (1630) [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A hook fastened to pole, by which shepherds lay hold on the legs or necks of their sheep; a shepherd's crook. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Of or pertaining to sheep. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Like a sheep; bashful; over-modest; meanly or foolishly diffident; timorous to excess. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wanting change of company, he will, when he comes abroad, be a sheepish or conceited creature. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Sheep"ish*ly, adv. -- Sheep"ish*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A keeper or feeder of sheep; also, an owner of sheep. 2 Kings iii. 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The starling. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A modest, diffident look; a loving glance; -- commonly in the plural. [ 1913 Webster ]

I saw her just now give him the languishing eye, as they call it; . . . of old called the sheep's-eye. Wycherley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A printer's tool consisting of a metal bar formed into a hammer head at one end and a claw at the other, -- used as a lever and hammer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Naut.) A hitch by which a rope may be temporarily shortened. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ So called because of the fancied resemblance of its head and front teeth to those of a sheep. ] (Zool.) A large and valuable sparoid food fish (Archosargus probatocephalus syn. Diplodus probatocephalus) found on the Atlantic coast of the United States. It often weighs from ten to twelve pounds. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The name is also locally, in a loose way, applied to various other fishes, as the butterfish, the fresh-water drumfish, the parrot fish, the porgy, and the moonfish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who shears, or cuts off the wool from, sheep. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Act of shearing sheep. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A feast at the time of sheep-shearing. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The skin of a sheep; or, leather prepared from it. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A diploma; -- so called because usually written or printed on parchment prepared from the skin of the sheep. [ College Cant ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A split of a sheepskin; one of the thin sections made by splitting a sheepskin with a cutting knife or machine. [ 1913 Webster ]