At 18:42 on 19 Feb 2007, Anne Wilson <cannewilson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Oxford English Dictionary (which I would think was fairly > > definitive) notes the use of sheeps. > > > Not in my copy - though of course few of us, if any, would have the > full OED. Would you like to post the entire entry? I subscribe to the website version (http://dictionary.oed.com/). The plural is mentioned after definition 1a. This is the basic entry, I've not included the various spellings, etymology or quotations... sheep, n. 1. a. Any animal of the ruminant genus Ovis (sometimes horned), closely allied to the goats; esp. of the widely domesticated species Ovis aries, of which there are many varieties, and which is reared for its flesh, fleece, and skin. The male of the sheep is a ram, the female a ewe, the young a lamb. The flesh of the adult sheep is mutton. The fleece yields wool, the skin is made into leather or parchment, and the intestines are used for the strings of musical instruments (see CATGUT). pl. with -s. b. With qualifying word denoting the species as African, broad-tailed, Rocky Mountain, wild (see ARGALI, MOUFFLON, MUSMON). Also applied to other genera, as {dag}Indian or Peruvian sheep, the llama or vicuña; mountain sheep, the ibex. c. vegetable sheep: see quot. 2. Similative (often passing into figurative) uses. a. In allusions to: (a) The sheep's timidity, defencelessness, inoffensiveness, tendency to stray and get lost: chiefly in echoes of biblical passages, and sometimes with allusion to sense 4. (b) The fabled assumption by a wolf (or other beast of prey) of the skin of a slaughtered sheep. (c) The division into ‘sheep’ and ‘goats’ (saved and lost) at the Last Judgement. Also attrib., as sheep-and-goat. (d) The infection of the whole flock by one sheep. (e) The shearing of sheep; with suggestion of ‘fleecing’ or robbing. b. lost sheep: one who has strayed from the right way. (Cf. 2a (a) and see LOST 2.) c. black sheep: a bad character. Cf. 3. Prov. there is a black sheep in every flock. 3. a. Proverbial phrases. one might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb and varr. to lose the sheep for a ha'porth of tar: see HALFPENNYWORTH b. b. to keep sheep by moonlight: see quot. c. to return to our sheep [after F. revenons à nos moutons]: to return to the matter in hand. (Cf. MUTTON 7, REVENONS Á NOS MOUTONS.) d. to count sheep: as a soporific, to count imaginary sheep jumping over an obstacle one by one. 4. fig. In biblical and religious language, applied (as collective plural) to persons, in expressed or implied correlation with shepherd. With varying specific reference: said, e.g., of Israel, the Church, or mankind generally, viewed as under the guidance and protection of God, and as owing obedience to Him; of those who are led by Christ as the Good Shepherd (John x. 1-16); and of those who are under the charge of a spiritual pastor, or who are viewed as needing to be spiritually fed or directed. Hence occas. in sing. 5. a. A person who is as stupid, timid, or poor-spirited as a sheep. {dag}b. Sheep and shrew are contrasted as types of wives of opposite characters (see quots.). c. A semi at Aberdeen university. 6. ellipt. (For sheep leather; cf. calf, kid.) Leather made from the skin of the sheep: used in bookbinding. The term has gone out of use in the bookbinding trade, the material being known under other names, e.g. roan, basil. 7. attrib. and Comb. a. appositive, as sheep-cattle, -hog. b. = Of, belonging to, produced by, or concerned with sheep, as sheep-dung, -fair, -fell (FELL n.1), -flock, etc. c. = Having to do with the rearing, keeping, or feeding of sheep, for the use of sheep, as sheep-barn, -boy, -common, crib, down, paddock, ranch, shed, station, wagon, etc. d. objective and objective genitive, as sheep-breeder, -clipper, -grazier, -grazing, -rancher, etc. e. instrumental and adverbial, as sheep-bitten, -browsed, -grazed, -proof, -scattered, -white, etc. 8. Special comb.: sheep-back = ROCHE MOUTONNÉE; {dag}sheep bar, a kind of hurdle on which sheep are laid to be clipped; sheep-bell, a bell hung on a sheep's neck (see BELL-WETHER); sheep-berry, the North American tree, Viburnum Lentago, or its fruit, which is fancied to resemble sheep-droppings; sheep blowfly, a large greenish blowfly belonging to the genus Lucilia, esp. L. coprina, the larva of which is a pest of sheep in Australia; sheep-book, a book of accounts in which are entered the particulars relating to flocks of sheep; sheep-bot (fly), the bot-fly {Oe}strus ovis; {dag}sheep-brand = SHEEP-MARK 1; sheep-bug, one of the genus Argas of mites, infesting sheep; sheep-bush Austral., either of two species of Geijera, G. parviflora or G. linearifolia, of the family Rutaceæ, a small evergreen tree sometimes used as fodder for sheep; sheep-camp, (a) N. Amer., a camp for sheep herders; (b) Austral. and N.Z., a resting or assembly place of sheep (cf. CAMP n.2 4c); (c) S. Afr., a fenced-in enclosure for sheep (cf. CAMP n.2 4e); sheep cocky Austral. and N.Z. colloq., a sheep-farmer on a small scale (cf. COCKY n.2 2); {dag}sheep-counter, a counter or token used in counting sheep (cf. Shakes. Wint. Tale IV. iii. 38); {dag}sheep-crook, a shepherd's crook; sheep-dip, (a) = SHEEP-WASH 2; (b) a place where sheep are washed; also fig. (see quots. 1945, 1976); so sheep-dipping; sheep-dog, (a) a dog that tends sheep; spec. one or other of the varieties trained for this purpose, as the Scotch collie, and the bob-tailed English sheep-dog; cf. shepherd's dog; (b) fig. a chaperon; also as v. trans., to urge (someone) on in the manner of a sheep-dog; to direct or ‘herd’; also {sm}sheep-dogging vbl. n.; sheep drain, an open drain cut in grass-land about 18 inches wide by 18 inches deep; {dag}sheep-drunk a. (see quot. and cf. note s.v. LION-DRUNK); sheep-fag (see FAG n.3); sheep-farm, a tract of land devoted to sheep-rearing; so sheep-farm v., sheep-farmer, -farming; sheep-fly, (a) = SHEEP-TICK; (b) a fly, Lucilia sericata, infesting live sheep; sheep-fodder plant, a South African plant, Pentzia virgata (Miller Plant-n. 1884); sheep-foil Hunting, a foiling (see FOIL v.1 2) of the track by sheep; {dag}sheep-furred a., trimmed with sheep's wool; sheep gad-fly, {Oe}strus ovis; {dag}sheep-garth, a sheepfold; sheep-gate, (a) [GATE n.2 8] pasturage, or the right of pasturage, for sheep (or a sheep); (b) [GATE n.1] a gate for the passage of sheep; a hurdle for enclosing sheep; sheep glue piece (see quot.); sheep-heaf, a sheep-walk; sheep-herder U.S., one who herds sheep in large numbers in unfenced country; {dag}sheep-hound = sheep-dog; sheep-kill = sheep-laurel; {dag}sheep-killing pennygrass, Hydrocotyle vulgaris; sheep-laurel, a North American shrub, Kalmia angustifolia, supposed to be very poisonous to sheep; cf. lamb-kill; sheep-lease dial., a sheepwalk; sheep-meat, (a) Western U.S. , mutton; (b) in mod. trading use: meat obtained from sheep; mutton and lamb; (also written as one word); sheep-money = sheep-silver; sheep-net, a net for confining sheep upon turnips; sheepnose, a small cider apple (see quots.); {dag}sheep-nose-worm, the larva of the sheep-bot; sheep-penny = sheep-money; sheep-pest, (a) a common Australian weed, Acæna ovina, the hooked spines of which catch in the wool of sheep (Morris Austral Eng. 1898); (b) = SHEEP-TICK (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1898); sheep-plant = vegetable sheep (sense 1c); sheep-pock, -pox, a form of smallpox to which sheep are subject; sheep-poison, (a) = sheep-laurel; (b) Lupinus densiflorus (Miller Plant-n. 1884); sheep-rack, (a) a rack from which sheep feed; (b) a sheep-house; (c) the starling; sheep-rake, a sheep-walk or sheep-track; sheep-ree, a permanent sheepfold; {dag}sheep-reeve, a chief shepherd; sheep-rot, (a) the rot in sheep, caused by the presence of flukes in the liver; (b) a name for plants supposed to cause disease in sheep, as butterwort and marsh pennywort; sheep-run orig. Austral., = SHEEP-WALK; sheep-scab, a skin-disease of sheep due to an acarus; sheep-seaweed (see quot.); sheep-sick a. (see quot. 1895); sheep-silver (see quots.); sheep-sleight [SLEIGHT n.3]= sheep-gate (a); sheep-smearing, the smearing of sheep with tar to kill vermin; also a kind of tar used for this purpose; sheep-sorrel = sheep's sorrel (see 9); {dag}sheep-stead, -steading Sc., a sheep-farm; sheep-stray, liberty of sheep to graze on a tract of land; sheep trot nonce-wd., a dance as of satyrs; sheep wagtail, a bird of the genus Budytes; {dag}sheep-ward, a shepherd; {dag}sheep-water = SHEEP-WASH 2; {dag}sheep-weald, sheep-pasture; sheep-weed, soapwort, Saponaria officinalis (Syd. Soc. Lex.); sheep-wool = sheep's wool (see 9). 9. Combinations with sheep's, {dag}sheeps(-) (often varying with combs. of sheep, see 7 and 8), as sheep's bell, -belly, -dung, -gather (see GATHER n.2), -pelt, -pluck (PLUCK n.1 6), sleight, -tallow, -trotters; sheep's bane, marsh pennywort, Hydrocotyle vulgaris, in the West Indies H. umbellata; sheep's beard, the genus Urospermum (Arnopogon); sheep's bit (scabious) = sheep's scabious; {dag}sheep's-colour, the colour of unbleached sheep's wool; {dag}sheep's course, a sheep-walk; {dag}sheep's feet Naut., a kind of stay; sheep's fescue (grass), see FESCUE n. 4; sheep's foot, (a) the foot of a sheep; {dag}(b) a kind of claw-hammer; (c) sheep's foot roller, a kind of tamping roller consisting of a steel drum studded with projecting feet; sheep's grey, material composed of a mixture of black and white wool; also attrib. or as adj.; sheep's gut(s = CATGUT; sheep's heart, put symbolically for ‘a timid person’; {dag}sheep's herd = SHEPHERD; {dag}sheep's leather, leather made from sheepskin; sheep's nose = sheepnose sense 8 above; sheep's parsley, ? hedge parsley; {dag}sheep's pellet, sheep's dung; {dag}sheep's russet, russet such as was worn by shepherds; sheep's scabious, Jasione montana; {dag}sheep's silver, mica; {dag}sheep's snout, a variety of apple; sheep's sorrel, Rumex Acetosella; sheep's tongue, (a) the tongue of a sheep used for food; (b) a kind of bugloss; sheep's wool, (a) wool from the fleece of a sheep; (b) a West Indian sponge, Spongia equina, var. gossypina; (c) sheep's-wool fat, lanoline (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1898). For sheep's louse, sheepsman, sheep's skin, sheep's tick, see SHEEP-LOUSE, etc. 10. Passing into adj. a. (in early use also sheep's; cf. SHEEP'S EYE.) Sheep-like, sheepish. b. In parasynthetic formations (and their derivatives), chiefly with reference to the timidity or stupidity of the sheep, as sheep-faced, -headed, -hearted, -spirited, -witted adjs.; also {dag}sheep-hued adj., of the colour of a sheep's fleece. -- Mark Knoop
