sheepfold
(ˈʃiːpfəʊld)
[f. sheep + fold n.2]
1. A pen or enclosure for sheep.
| [c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John x. 1 Se þe ne gæð æt þam gete into sceapa falde.] a 1430 Wyclif's Bible, Num. xxxii. 16 (MS. C.C.C.) Sheep foldis. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 130 Þer doggis at kepid þer shepefald. 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §18 It is tyme to set out the shepefolde in May. 1611 Bible Judges v. 16 Why abodest thou among the sheepefolds, to heare the bleatings of the flocks? 1668 Cowley Several Disc. iv. Hor. Ep. 52 To pin the sheepfold. 1784 Cowper Task i. 290 The sheep-fold here Pours out its fleecy tenants o'er the glebe. 1891 S. C. Scrivener Our Fields & Cities 142 Sowing barley on a recently-ploughed sheepfold. |
| attrib. 1820 Keats Isabella xxxviii, A sheep-fold bleat. |
b. fig.,
esp. in a spiritual sense.
| 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love Ep. Ded. *ij b, Many lying seers,..vnder Lambes skinnes, craftely crept into the sheepfold. 1581 J. Hamilton in Cath. Tract. (S.T.S.) 75 The scheipfald of Christ. 1635 A. Stafford Fem. Glory 136 The Prince of all Shepheards whose sheepe⁓fold is the world. 1851 Ruskin (title) Notes on the construction of Sheepfolds [i.e. churches]. 1868 E. Yates Rock Ahead ii. iv, The man who had dared..to invade the sanctity of her sheepfold and carry off one of her pet lambs. |
† 2. A flock of sheep;
= fold n.2 1 c.
Obs.| 1590 T. Watson Eglogue fin., Poems (Arb.) 175 Lets hence, and shut our sheepfolds in their coat. |
Hence
† sheepfold v.,
† sheepfolding vbl. n.| 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. ix. 21 If they be there⁓withall Sheepe-folded and ground-fedde with ruminant Cattell. Ibid. x. 23 The sheepe-folding and foddering. |