sheep

 
Pronunciation: /ʃiːp/

noun (plural )

  • 1a domesticated ruminant mammal with a thick woolly coat and (typically only in the male) curving horns. It is kept in flocks for its wool or meat, and is proverbial for its tendency to follow others in the flock.
    • Ovis aries, family Bovidae, descended from the wild mouflon
  • a wild mammal related to this, such as the argali, bighorn, bharal, and urial.
  • 2used with reference to people who are too easily influenced or led: party members should not follow their leader like sheep
  • 3a person regarded as a protected follower of God.
    [with biblical allusion to Luke 15:6]
  • a member of a minister’s congregation.

Phrases

count sheep

count imaginary sheep jumping over a fence one by one in an attempt to send oneself to sleep.

make sheep's eyes at someone

look at someone in a foolishly amorous way.

Derivatives

sheeplike

adjective

Origin:

Old English scēp, scǣp, scēap, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch schaap and German Schaf