ˈsheepskin
Also sheep's skin.
[Cf. NFris. sjappskann.]
1. a. The skin of a sheep; esp. one used as a garment or in the making of a garment.
| c 1200 Ormin 3210 Hiss girrdell wass off shepess skinn. c 1440 Jacob's Well 214 Þise schepysskynnes wyth whiche I am wryed were scheep þat I took wrongfully of a wydewe. c 1440 Lydg. Hors, Shepe & G. 365 Ther is also made of sheepis skyn, Pilchis & glovis. c 1500 Cocke Lorelles Bote 2 A shepes skyne of a wether. 1526 Tindale Heb. xi. 37 Other..walked vppe and doune in shepes skynnes [Rheims, A.V. sheep-skinnes]. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden K 1, One time shee slept in a sheepes skinne all night. 1738 Ochtertyre House Bk. (S.H.S.) 122 For a sheeps skine for the mill .007. |
| 1411 Nottingham Rec. II. 86, j. shepskyn, jd. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xvii. 62 He was al be furred in black shepe skynnes. 1562–3 Act 5 Eliz. c. 22 §1 To..take away the Wooll of any Shepe skinne or Lambe skinne. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. i. 123 Is not Parchment made of Sheep⁓skinnes? 1692 Capt. Smith's Seaman's Gram. ii. iii. 91 Sheepskins to make Spunges. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. xli. IV. 149 They promiscuously slept on the ground, perhaps on a sheep-skin. 1850 W. Irving Mahomet xviii. (1853) 81 Garb of coarse woollen patched with sheepskin. 1896 Barrie Sentim. Tommy ii, The floor was bare save for a sheepskin beside the bed. |
b. in military use.
| 1802 C. James Milit. Dict. s.v. Skin, Sheep skins are made use of to cover the mortars or howitzers between firing. 1833 Reg. Instr. Cavalry i. 106 Draw back the sheepskin and shabraque. 1871 Daily News 7 Sept., The artillery..were the first to lay their sheepskins aside. |
c. A coat made of sheepskin.
| 1917 W. J. Locke Red Planet xxi. 270 From the shapeless tam-o'-shanter to the huge boots..[he] was caked in mud. Over a filthy sheepskin were slung all kinds of paraphernalia. 1977 A. Scholefield Venom ii. 83 The policeman made no reply, hunching down again in his sheepskin. |
2. a. The skin of sheep used for parchment, for the making of drumheads, in bookbinding, etc.
| 1340 Ayenb. 44 Betere may ech man rede þe ilke zenne, and þe oþre ine þe boc of his inwyt þanne ine ane ssepes scinne. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1014 We stowpe and stare vp-on þe shepes skyn, And keepe muste our song and wordes in. |
| 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 176 He had to sell..Remissioun of sinnis, in auld scheip skinnis. 1596 Raigne K. Edw. III, ii. ii. 50 Poore shipskin, how it braules with him that beateth it! c 1613 Middleton No Wit like Woman's iv. ii, When did you e'er see a gentleman set his hand to anything, unless it were to a sheep-skin, and receive a hundred pound for his pains? 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 10 June Let. i, I will find a slip of sheep-skin that will do his business. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xxxii, Where some wise..conveyancer yet toils for the entanglement of real estate in meshes of sheepskin, in the average ratio of about a dozen of sheep to an acre of land. 1870 Daily News 9 Sept. 5 The music of the sheepskin and the trumpets. |
b. U.S. slang. A parchment diploma received on taking a degree; the holder of such a diploma.
| 1843 R. Carlton New Purchase (Hall College Words), This apostle of ourn never rubbed his back agin a college, nor toted about no sheepskins. Ibid., I can say as well as the best on them sheepskins, if you don't get religion..you'll be lost, teetotally. 1887 Lippincott's Mag. Aug. 299 He has won his sheep-skin; he has, perchance, gained signal honors in his university course. |
3. a. attrib. and
Comb., as
sheepskin-clad,
sheepskin-lined adj.;
sheepskin-gatherer.
| c 1645 Archæologia LII. 141 A fell monger or Sheepe skin gatherer. 1879 Browning Ivan Dram. Idyls 63 About him, watched the work his neighbours sheepskin-clad. 1950 C. Edwards in McCall's Mag. Mar. 68/3 A pair of sheepskin-lined slippers. 1980 Country Life 3 July 56/1 The del is the colourful Mongolian dress... Winter dels are sheepskin-lined (a man's del can require up to 40 lambskins). |
b. attrib. passing into adj. Made or consisting of sheepskin or parchment; written on parchment.
| 1602 Dekker Satirom. F 3 b, This ship-skin-cap shall be put off. 1607 Middleton Fam. Love iii. i, Wolves that in sheep-skin bands Prey on the hearts to join th' unwilling hands. 1624 J. Taylor (Water P.) Pastorall C 3 b, So doth a sheepe-skin Bond make money breed. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 83 Purifying crude mercury..by passing it through sheep-skin..leather. 1827 Scott Chron. Canongate i, A couple of sheep-skin bags, full of parchment and papers. 1833 Marryat Peter Simple xxxi, To put the sheepskin mat on the stern gratings of my gig. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. v, A sheepskin drum! 1850 ― Latterday Pamph. vi. 26 A sheepskin Act of Parliament. 1917 Harrods Catal. 763/1 Sheepskin rugs 35/0 to 120/0. 1936 ‘J. Tey’ Shilling for Candles xxvi. 278 An atmosphere of marble mantlepieces and sheepskin rugs. 1976 J. Bingham God's Defector vi. 73 In front of the dressing-table was a white sheepskin rug. |
Hence
ˈsheepskinned a., clothed in sheepskin (in
quot. 1628 with reference to
Matt. vii. 15).
| 1628 Prynne Brief Surv. 2 That some should..watch against deuout and sheepe-skind Wolues. 1879 H. S. Edwards Russ. at Home I. 202 Their sheep-skinned persons. 1889 ‘F. Anstey’ Pariah i. i, Whenever one of the fly-horses..shook his long-suffering and sheepskinned head. |