Sheep

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sheep \Sheep\, n. sing. & pl. [OE. shep, scheep, AS. sc?p,
     sce['a]p; akin to OFries. sk?p, LG. & D. schaap, G. schaf,
     OHG. sc[=a]f, Skr. ch[=a]ga. [root]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]
  
     Note: 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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sheep
       n 1: woolly usually horned ruminant mammal related to the goat
       2: a timid defenseless simpleton who is readily preyed upon
       3: a docile and vulnerable person who would rather follow than
          make an independent decision; "his students followed him
          like sheep"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  95 Moby Thesaurus words for "sheep":
     Babbitt, Columbia, Karakul, Kerry Hill, Lincoln, Merino,
     Middle American, Panama, Philistine, Romeldale, Romney, Suffolk,
     Wensleydale, anal character, ape, assembly, bellwether, bourgeois,
     brethren, burgher, churchgoers, class, compulsive character,
     conformer, conformist, congregation, conventionalist, copier,
     copycat, copyist, counterfeiter, cuckoo, dissembler, dissimulator,
     echo, echoer, echoist, ewe, ewe lamb, faker, flock, fold, forger,
     formalist, hypocrite, imitator, impersonator, impostor, jumbuck,
     laity, lamb, lambkin, laymen, methodologist, middle-class type,
     mime, mimer, mimic, mimicker, minyan, mocker, mockingbird,
     model child, monkey, mutton, nonclerics, nonordained persons,
     organization man, parish, parishioners, parrot, pedant, people,
     perfectionist, phony, plagiarist, plastic person, poll-parrot,
     polly, polly-parrot, poseur, precisian, precisianist, ram,
     seculars, simulator, society, square, teenybopper, teg, trimmer,
     tup, wether, yeanling, yes-man
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  SHEEP
       
           A package for {symbolic mathematics},
          especially {tensor analysis} and General Relativity, developed
          by Inge Frick in Stockholm in the late 1970s to early 1980s.
          SHEEP was implemented in {DEC-10} {assembly language}, then in
          several {LISPs}.  The current version runs on {Sun}-3 and is
          based on {Portable Standard LISP}.
       
          ["Sheep, a Computer Algebra System for General Relativity",
          J.E.F. Skea et al in Proc First Brazilian School on Comp Alg,
          W. Roque et al eds, Oxford U Press 1993, v2].
       
         
       {(http://www.riaca.win.tue.nl/archive/can/SystemsOverview/Special/Tensoranalysis/SHEEP/index.html)}.
       
          (2002-12-28)
       
       

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Sheep
     are of different varieties. Probably the flocks of Abraham and
     Isaac were of the wild species found still in the mountain
     regions of Persia and Kurdistan. After the Exodus, and as a
     result of intercourse with surrounding nations, other species
     were no doubt introduced into the herds of the people of Israel.
     They are frequently mentioned in Scripture. The care of a
     shepherd over his flock is referred to as illustrating God's
     care over his people (Ps. 23:1, 2; 74:1; 77:20; Isa. 40:11;
     53:6; John 10:1-5, 7-16).
     
       "The sheep of Palestine are longer in the head than ours, and
     have tails from 5 inches broad at the narrowest part to 15
     inches at the widest, the weight being in proportion, and
     ranging generally from 10 to 14 lbs., but sometimes extending to
     30 lbs. The tails are indeed huge masses of fat" (Geikie's Holy
     Land, etc.). The tail was no doubt the "rump" so frequently
     referred to in the Levitical sacrifices (Ex. 29:22; Lev. 3:9;
     7:3; 9:19). Sheep-shearing was generally an occasion of great
     festivity (Gen. 31:19; 38:12, 13; 1 Sam. 25:4-8, 36; 2 Sam.
     13:23-28).
     

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  SHEEP. A wether more than a year old. 4 Car. & Payne, 216; 19 Eng. Com. Law 
  Rep. 331, S. C.