merino sheep
1
4.2
- noun
- /məˈriːnoʊ ʃiːp/
:
oveja merina
- The Martha Stewart CraftsT Merino is a 100% wool yarn, which comes from the fleece of merino sheep.
- wool from merino sheep
Examples
-
They insisted the women wear the soft white cotton cloth made on the mission looms or the itchy wool gathered from the merino sheep that grazed the hillsides.
Fiction book (1995) -
Farmers often prefer merino sheep because of their soft and valuable wool.
-
The first Merino sheep arrived in 1797, and coal mining started in 1798.
Blog text (15) -
Merino sheep are known to have some of the softest and finest wools of all sheep.
Blog text (7) -
George III was known for the fine flock of Merino sheep raised on his lands, but the cattle in the area were, by contrast, reputed to be of poor quality.
Academic text (1995) -
On passing by the weaving workshop, she heard the busy chatter of women as they combed wool from the merino sheep that roamed the hillsides.
Fiction book (1995) -
The merino sheep produce a heavy fleece of exceptionally fine and high-quality wool.
-
The fine wool from merino sheep is highly sought after in the textile industry.
Synonyms
4
7.2
A type of sheep with very fine soft wool used for clothes
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound simply names a subtype of sheep: knowing 'merino' (a breed valued for its fleece) and 'sheep' (a woolly domesticated animal) lets a learner infer it is a sheep of the merino breed. This is a regular noun–noun compositional pattern (breed + animal) common across languages, so the meaning is directly derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Merino sheep comes from Spain, where farmers kept special white sheep because their wool was very soft and valuable. That's why merino sheep now means the breed of sheep known for very fine, high-quality wool.