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Glite Dictionary
sheep-biter

sheep-biter

1 9.9
A person who steals sheep and tricks other people
  • noun
  • Offensive
translation icon : ladrón de ovejas
  • Once branded a sheep-biter, it was difficult for him to regain the trust of the community.

Examples

  • The villagers soon realized that Tom was the sheep-biter who had been stealing their animals.

  • The sheep-biter was caught stealing from the farmer's flock.

  • Old stories warned children never to trust a sheep-biter with their livestock.

  • Don't trust him; he's a known sheep-biter!

  • In the small village, the locals warned of a notorious sheep-biter who had stolen many of their livestock.

  • Everyone in town knew him as a sheep-biter, always scheming to swindle unsuspecting farmers.

  • The tale of the sheep-biter who deceived the shepherd was well-known in rural folklore.

Synonyms

sheepstealer
vssheep-biter
  • Archaic
9.9

A person who takes sheep illegally to keep or sell them

is archaic and calls a person deceitful rather than only an animal thief

How Dishonest

villain
272 3.3
sheep-biter
  • Offensive
1 9.9
thief
754 1.0
untrustworthy
21 4.8
honest
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

sheep-biter singular
sheep-biters plural

Morphology

sheep-biter = sheep + biter (semi-transparent) = sheep + bite + er

The compound is clearly built from 'sheep' + 'biter', but the archaic/metaphorical sense 'thief; treacherous person' is not directly inferable from the literal components.

Etymology

Sheep-biter comes from the simple image of a person who would harm or steal farm animals — literally sheep plus biter, where 'biter' suggests someone who would 'bite' or 'steal' the animals. So it was an old name for a thief or a treacherous person who could not be trusted.