sheikh
(ʃeɪk, ʃiːk)
Forms: 6 siech, 7 sceich, shech, shich, sheicke, shiek, 7–8 sheck, 8 schec(h, shiech, shaik, sheek, 7–9 sheich, scheik, sheick, 9 schiek, shaikh, shaykh, sheykh, 7– sheik, 8– sheikh; 7 cheq, cheke, 8 check, cheik, chiek, 8–9 chaik, 9 cheick; 7–8 xeque.
[Arabic shaikh properly ‘old man’, f. shākha to grow or be old. Cf. OF. esceque, seic, F. cheik, scheik, Sp. jeque, Pg. xeque.]
1. a. The chief of an Arab family or tribe; the headman of an Arabian village; an Arab chief; † an Eastern governor, prince, king. Now also used among Arabs as a general title of respect.
| 1577 Eden's Hist. Trav. 331 b, The kyng of Persia is called Siech Ismael, whom the Italians call Gualizador, or Sophi. 1615 W. Bedwell tr. Moham. Impost. i. §3 The peace of God..be vpon thee my Sheich. 1671 Charente Lett. conc. Customs Tafiletta 5 The cheif of each Tribe, who take upon them the Title of Xeque, which is equivalent to Captain. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 160 He sent thither an Arab Scheik with many Arabs. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. iv. 36 He has the Title of Xeriff given him, to distinguish his Eminency from other Sheeks. 1728 Morgan Algiers I. iii. 32 One of the Numidian petty Princes, called by Greek Authors Philarchs, and by the Arabs, &c. Sheikhs. 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 507 Mutavali, the chiek or governor of Mesched. 1788 Tully's Narr. Resid. Tripoli (1817) 175 Shaik Alieff, an Arab chief. 1841 Kinnear Cairo, etc. 169 One of the Fellah sheichs. 1882 Farrar Early Chr. I. 457 Abraham..left his home in Ur of the Chaldees to wander as a nomad Sheikh. 1908 Mockler-Ferryman Golden Girdle iii, I knew that the Jelas tribe still existed, and though Sheik Feyzul was dead, his son Faris reigned in his stead. 1908 Times 8 July 19/2 As regards the Shaykh's competency as an Arabic scholar, there can be but one opinion. |
b. (Chiefly in spelling
sheik.) A type of a strong, romantic lover; a lady-killer. [After
The Sheik, a novel by E. M. Hull (1919), and its cinematic adaptation
The Sheikh, 1921, starring Rudolph Valentino.]
| 1925 Lit. Digest 14 Feb. 28/2 We hear almost nothing more of the matinée idol any more... The ‘sheik’ has taken his place. 1927 Amer. Speech II. 202/2 The girl calls the young man..‘my sheik’. 1932 S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm xviii. 245 The mask smiled..from a great silver screen: ‘Seth Starkadder in {oqq}Small-Town Sheik{cqq}.’ 1939 ‘G. Orwell’ Coming up for Air i. i. 10 When your last natural tooth goes, the time when you can kid yourself that you're a Hollywood sheik is definitely at an end. 1956 S. Longstreet Real Jazz Old & New xii. 95 John Held Jr. drew the jazz-flapper and her sheik best... The lad was apple-headed, his hair buttered tight down. He wore bell-bottomed trousers, a racoon coat, drove a Stutz Bearcat and played or danced to jazz a lot. 1980 ‘L. Egan’ Motive in Shadow v. 87 He's sure a handsome sheik, kid. |
2. a. The head of a Muslim religious order or community; a great religious doctor or preacher; now
esp. a saint having a local cultus.
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 276 A Nation..which he calleth Hhassissin, which..followed a peculiar Prophet... They called him Sheich [printed Hheich] al Hhassissin. 1662 J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 46 The Devotions.. done at the Sepulchre of Schich Sefi at Ardebit. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece ii. 199 A Book..written by a Cheke, or Doctor of Grand Cairo. 1753 R. Clayton Jrnl. Cairo to Mt. Sinai 12 Sept. 1722, As we were passing by a mosch, where a certain shiech Salah was buried,..several of our guides..went thither to receive a benediction. c 1850 Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 674 A convent.., the scheik, or superior of which was a friend of the steward. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 201 A sheikh's tomb with a tiled roof. 1908 S. A. Cook Relig. Anc. Palestine vi. 68 Saints and holy sheikhs of the modern shrines. |
b. Sheikh-ul-Islam (properly
Sheikhu 'l Islam): the supreme authority in matters relating to religion and sacred law; in Turkey, the mufti. Hence
Sheikh-ul-Islamate.
| 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 261 The Sheikelislam, who is the chief Civil Judge. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iii. li. 231 The kaziæskar is judge of the army, and the scheichulislam is reputed of equal rank with him. 1902 Daily Chron. 26 Apr. 5/4 She went to the Sheikh-ul-Islamate. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 3 Sept. 3/2 No political act of the Sultan has any validity without the fetwa of the Sheikh-ul-Islam. |
3. In India, one of a dissenting sect of Muslims; a general term for Hindu converts to Islam. (Usually
shekh,
shaikh.)
| [1697 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. iii. i. 93 All Musselmen..are distinguished, some according to the Consanguinity they claim with Mahomet... A Shiek is a Cousin..at a distance, into which Relation they admit all new Proselytes.] |
| 1883 Encycl. Brit. XV. 185/2 (Madras) The Shaikhs number 511,112 the Sayyids 89,219, the Pathans 70,943 [etc.]. 1903 India Census, 1901 I. i. 451 The converts who call themselves Shekh. 1905 Macphail K. S. Macdonald xvi. 243 A Bengali Shekh may be almost anything. |
Hence
ˈsheikhdom,
-ship, the status or office of a sheikh; the territory ruled by a sheikh;
ˈsheikhling, a petty sheikh;
ˈsheikhly a., pertaining to or characteristic of a sheikh.
| 1845 E. Warburton Crescent & Cross II. 254 The Sheikdom is..hereditary in most cases. 1860 Tristram Gt. Sahara xiv. 237 The Touareg do not appear to have any subdivided sheikdoms like the Arabs. 1878 Fraser's Mag. XVIII. 144 The chief sheikhship is hereditary. 1888 Doughty Trav. Arabia Des. I. 98 Of sheykhly blood and noble easy countenance. 1907 Ewing Arab & Druze iii. 36 He proved to be the son of the sheikhly ruler of Dama. 1914 G. Bell Let. 19 Jan. (1927) I. xiii. 326 A young sheikhling of the Sikhur joined us..and spent the night with us as guests. 1974 W. Garner Big enough Wreath iv. 40 Mini-presidents and rich sheiklings seeking advice. |