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.
2. A weak, bashful, silly fellow. --Ainsworth.
3. pl. Fig.: The people of God, as being under the government
and protection of Christ, the great Shepherd.
{Rocky mountain sheep}.(Zo["o]l.) See {Bighorn}.
{Maned sheep}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Aoudad}.
{Sheep bot} (Zo["o]l.), the larva of the sheep botfly. See
{Estrus}.
{Sheep dog} (Zo["o]l.), 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 ({Ac[ae]na 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} (Zo["o]l.), the highest grade of Florida
commercial sponges ({Spongia equina}, variety
{gossypina}).
{Sheep tick} (Zo["o]l.), 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}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Argali}, {Mouflon}, and
{O["o]rial}.