Part 316

Sheep's"-eye` (?), n. A modest, diffident look; a loving glance; -- commonly in the plural.

I saw her just now give him the languishing eye, as they call it; . . . of old called the sheep's-eye.

Wycherley.

Sheep's-foot` (?), n. A printer's tool consisting of a metal bar formed into a hammer head at one end and a claw at the other, -- used as a lever and hammer.

Sheep"shank` (?), n. (Naut.) A hitch by which a rope may be temporarily shortened.

Sheeps"head` (&?;), n. [So called because of the fancied resemblance of its head and front teeth to those of a sheep.] (Zoöl.) A large and valuable sparoid food fish (Archosargus, or Diplodus, probatocephalus) found on the Atlantic coast of the United States. It often weighs from ten to twelve pounds.

The name is also locally, in a loose way, applied to various other fishes, as the butterfish, the fresh-water drumfish, the parrot fish, the porgy, and the moonfish.

Sheep"-shear`er (?), n. One who shears, or cuts off the wool from, sheep.

Sheep"-shear`ing (?), n. 1. Act of shearing sheep.

2. A feast at the time of sheep- shearing. Shak.

Sheep"skin` (?), n. 1. The skin of a sheep; or, leather prepared from it.

2. A diploma; -- so called because usually written or printed on parchment prepared from the skin of the sheep. [College Cant]

Sheep"split` (?), n. A split of a sheepskin; one of the thin sections made by splitting a sheepskin with a cutting knife or machine.

Sheep"y (?), a. Resembling sheep; sheepish. Testament of Love.

Sheer (?), a. [OE. shere, skere, pure, bright, Icel. sk&?;rr; akin to skrr, AS. scr, OS. skri, MHG. schr, G. schier, Dan. sk&?;r, Sw. skär, Goth. skeirs clear, and E. shine. √157. See Shine, v. i.] 1. Bright; clear; pure; unmixed. "Sheer ale." Shak.

Thou sheer, immaculate, and silver fountain.

Shak.

2. Very thin or transparent; -- applied to fabrics; as, sheer muslin.

3. Being only what it seems to be; obvious; simple; mere; downright; as, sheer folly; sheer nonsense. "A sheer impossibility." De Quincey.

It is not a sheer advantage to have several strings to one's bow.

M. Arnold.

4. Stright up and down; vertical; prpendicular.

A sheer precipice of a thousand feet.

J. D. Hooker.

It was at least Nine roods of sheer ascent.

Wordsworth.

Sheer, adv. Clean; quite; at once. [Obs.] Milton.

Sheer, v. t. [See Shear.] To shear. [Obs.] Dryden.