Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
SHAMEFACED — SHEEPCOT
SHAMEFACED, a. Bashful; easily confused or put out of countenance. A man may be shamefaced to excess.
Conscience is a blushing shamefaced spirit. Shak.
Your shamefac’d virtue shunn’d the people’s praise. Dryden.
SHAMEFACEDLY, adv. Bashfully; with excessive modesty.
SHAMEFACEDNESS, n. Bashfulness; excess of modesty.
SHAEFUL, a. [shame and full.]
1. That brings shame or disgrace; scandalous; disgraceful; injurious to reputation. It expresses less than infamous and ignominious.
His naval preparations were not more suprising than his quick and shameful retreat. Arbuthnot.
2. Indecent; raising shame in others.
Phoebus flying so most shameful sight. Spenser.
SHAMEFULLY, adv.
1. Disgracefully; in a manner to bring reproach. He shamefully deserted his friend.
2. With indignity or indecency; in a manner that may cause shame.
How shamefully that maid he did torment. Spenser.
SHAMEFULNESS, n. Disgracefulness.
SHAMELESS, a. [shame and less.]
1. Destitute of shame; wanting modesty; impudent; brazen-faced; immodest; audacious; insensible to disgrace.
Such shameless bards we have. Pope.
2. Done without shame; indicating want of shame; as a shameless denial of truth.
SHAMELESSLY, adv. Without shame; impudently; as a man shamelessly wicked.
SHAMELESSNES, n. Destitution of shame; want of sensiblity to desgrace or dishonor; impudence.
He that blushes not at his crime, but adds shamelessness to shame, has nothing left to restore him to virture. Taylor.
SHAMER, n. One who makes ashamed; that which confounds.
SHAMING, ppr. Making ashamed; causing to blush; confounding.
SHAMMER, n. [from sham.] One that shams; an imposter. [Low.]
SHAMOIS, SHAMMY, n.
1. A species of wild goat, (Capra rupicapra, goat of the rocks,) inhabiting the mountains of Savoy, Piedmont, and Pyrenees.
The shamois is now considered as a species of antelope, (Antelope rupicapra.)
2. A kind of sether prepared from the skin of the wild goat. It is dressed in oil or tanned, much esteemed for its softness, pliancey and quality of bearing soap without damage. A great part of the lether which bears this name is conterfeit, being made of the skin of the common goat, the kid. or even of sheep.
SHAMROCK, n. The Irish name for three-leafed grass.
SHANK, n.
1. The whole joint from the knee to the ankle. In a horse, th epart of the fore leg between the knee and footlock.
2. The tibia or large bone of the leg; as crooked shanks.
3. The long part of an instrument; as the shank of a key.
The beam or shaft of an anchor.
4. A plant. [bryonia.]
SHANKED, a. Having a shank.
SHANKER, n. A malignent ulcer, usually occasioned by some venereal complaint.
SHANK-PAINTER, n. With seamen, a short rope and chain which sustains the shank and flukes of an anchor against the ship’s side, as the stopper fastens the ring and stock to the cat-head.
SHANSCRIT, n. The Sanscrit, or ancient language of Hindoostan. [See Sanscrit.]
SHANTY, for janty, gay; showy. [Not in use or local.]
SHAPE, v.t. pret. shaped; pp. shaped or shapen.
1. To form or create.
I was shapen in iniquity. Psalm 51:5.
2. To mold or make into a particular form; to give form or figure to; as, to shape a garment.
Grace shap’d her limbs, and beauty deck’d her face. Prior.
3. To mold; to cast; to regulate; to adjust; to adapt to a purpose. He shapes his plans or designs to the temper of the times.
4. To direct; as, to shape a course.
5. To image; to conceive.
Oft my jealousy
Shapes faults that are not. Shak.
SHAPE, v.i. To square; to suit; to be adjusted.
SHAPE, n.
1. Form or figure as constituted by lines and angles; as the shape of a horse or a tree; the shape of the head, hand or foot.
2. External appearance.
He beat me grievously in the shape of a woman. Shak.
3. The form of the trunk of the human boky; as a clumsy shape; an elegant shape.
4. A being as endowed with form.
Before the gates are sat,
On either side, a formidable shape. Milton.
5. Idea; pattern.
6. Form. This application comes before the legislature in the shape of a memorial.
7. Manner.
SHAPED, SHAPEN, pp. Formed; molded; cast; conceived.
SHAPELESS, a. Destitute of regular form; wanting symmetry of dimensions; as deformed and shapeless.
The shapeless rock or hanging precipice. Pope.
SHAPELESSNESS, n. Destitution of regular form.
SHAPLINESS, n. [from shapely.] Beauty or proportion of form. [Little used.]
SHAPELY, a. [from shape.] Well formed; having a regular shapr; symmetrical.
SHAPESMITH, n. [shape and smith.] One that undertakes to improve the form of the body. [In burlesque.]
SHAPING, ppr. Forming; molding; casting; conceiving; giving form.
SHARD, n.
1. A piece or fragment of an earthen vessel or of any brittle substance. Obs.
2. The shell of an egg or of a snail.
3. A plant. [chard.]
4. A frith or strait; as a perilous shard.
5. A gap.
6. A fish.
SHARDBORN, a. [shard and born.] Born or produced among among fragments, or in crevices; as the shardborn beetle.
Johnson suggests that shard may perhaps signify the sheath of the witgs of insects. In this case, the word should be written shardborne, and defined, born in the air by sheathed wings. Such is Todd’s explanation of the word in Shakespeare. The word shard may perhaps be used for the crustaceous wing of an insect, but I know not that such a sense is legitimate. [See Sharded.]
SHARDED, a. Having wings sheathed with a hard case; as the sharded beetle. Inhabiting shards.
SHARE, n.
1. a part; a portion; a quantity; as a small share of prudence or good sense.
2. A part or portion of a thing owned by a number in common; that part of an undivided interest which belongs to each proprietor; as a ship owned in ten shares; a Tontine buildind owned in a hundred shares.
3. The part of a thing allotted or distributed to each individual of a number; divided; separate portion. Each heir has received his share of the estate.
4. A part belonging to one; portion possessed.
Nor I without my share of fame. Dryden.
5. A part contributed. He bears his share of the burden.
6. The broad iron or blade of a plow which cuts the ground; or a furrow-slice.
To go shares, to partake; to be equally concerned.
SHARE, v.t.
1. To divide; to part among two or more.
Suppose I share my fortune equally between my children and a stranger. Swift.
And share his burden where he shares his heart. Dryden.
2. To partake or enjoy with others; to seize and possess jointly in common.
Great Jove with Cesar shares his sov’reign sway. Milton.
While avarice and rapine share the land. Milton.
3. To cut; to share. [Not now in use.]
And the shar’d vilage hangs on equal sides. Dryden.
SHARE, v.i. To have part.
A right of inheritance gave everyone a title to share the goods of his father. Locke.
SHARE-BONE, n. The ossa pubis.
SHARED, pp. Held or enjoyed with another or others; divided; distributed in shares
SHAREHOLDER, n. [share and holder.] One that holds or owns a share in a joint fund or property.
One of the proprietors of the mine, who was a principle shareholder in the company, died. Med. Repos.
SHARER, n. A partaker; one that participates any thing with another; one who enjoys or suffers in common with anotheror others; as a sharer in another’s good fortune; a sharer in the toils of war; a sharer in a ladies affections.
SHARING, ppr. Partaking; having a part with another; enjoying or suffering with others.
SHARING, n. Participation.
SHARK, n. [L. carcharius; Gr. from sharp.]
1. A voracious fish of the genus Squalus, of several species. The body is oblong, tapering and rough, and some species have several rows of serrated teeth. The largest grow to the length of thirty feet.
2. A greedy artful fellow; one who fills his pockets by sly tricks. [Low.]
3. Trick; fraud; petty rapine; as, to live upon the shark. [Little used.]
4. In New England, one that lives by shifts, contrivance or stratagem.
SHARK, v.t. To pick up hastily, slily or in small quantities. [Low.]
SHARK, v.i.
1. To play the petty thief; or rather to live by shifts and petty stratagems. [In New England, the common pronunciation is shurk, but the word rarely implies fraud.]
2. To cheat; to trick. [Low.]
3. To fawn upon for a dinner; to beg.
To shark out, to slip out or escape by low artifices. [Vulgar.]
SHARKER, n. One that lives by sharking; an artful fellow.
SHARKING, ppr. Picking up in haste; living by petty rapine, or by shifts and devices.
SHARKING, n.
1. Petty rapine; trick.
2. The seeking of a livelihood by shifts and devices.
SHARP, a.
1. Having a very thin edge or a fine point; keen; acute; not blunt. Thus we may say, a sharp knife, or a sharp needle. A sharp edge easily severs a substance; a sharp point is easily made to penetrate, it.
2. Terminating in a point or edge; not obtuse; as, a hills terminates in a sharp peak, or a sharp ridge.
3. Forming an acute or too small angle at the ridge; as a sharp roof.
4. Acute of mind; quick to discern or distinguish; penetrating; ready at invention; witty; ingenious.
Nothing makes men sharper than want. Addison.
Many other things belong to the material world, wherein the sharpest philosophers have not yet obtained clear ideas. Watts.
5. Being of quick or nice perception; applied to the senses or organs of perception; as a sharp eye; sharp sight.
6. Affecting the organs of taste like fine points; piercing; penetrating; shrill; as sharp vinegar; sharp tasted citrons.
7. Affecting the organs of hearing like sharp points; poercing; penetrating; shrill; as a sharp sound or voice; a sharp not or tone; opposed to a flat note or sound.
8. Severe; harsh; biting; sarcastic; as sharp words; sharp rebuke.
-Be thy words severe,
Sharp as he merits; but the sword forbear. Dryden.
9. Severely rigid; quick or severe in punishing; cruel.
To that place the sharp Athenian law
Cannot pursue us. Shak.
10. Eager for food; keen; as a sharp appetite.
11. Eager in pursuit; deen in quest,
My faulchion now is sharp and passing empty. Shak.
12. Fierce; ardent; fiery; violent; as a sharp contest.
A sharp assault already is begun. Dryden.
13. Keen; severe; pungent; as sharp pain.
14. Very painful or distressing; as sharp tribulation; a sharp fit of the gout.
15. Very attentive or vigilant.
Sharp at her utmost ken she cast her eyes. Dryden.
16. Making nice calculations of profit; or close and exact in making bargains or demanding dues.
17. Biting; pinching; piercing; as sharp air; sharp wind or weather.
18. Subtil; nice; witty; acute; used of things; as a sharp discourse.
19. Among workmen, hard; as sharp sand.
20. Emanciated; lean; thin; as a sharp visage.
To brace sharp, in seamanship, to turn the yards to the most oblique position possible, that the ship may lay well up to the wind.
SHARP, n.
1. In music, an acute sound.
2. A note artificially raised a semitone; or,
3. The character which directs the note to be thus elevated; opposed to a flat, which depresses a note a semitone.
4. A pointed weapon. [Not in use.]
SHARP, v.t.
1. To make keen or acute.
2. To render quick.
3. To mark with a sharp, in musical composition; or to raise a not a semitone.
SHARP, v.i. To play tricks in bargaining; to act the sharper.
SHARP-EDGED, a. Having a fine keen edge.
SHARPEN, v.t.
1. To make sharp; to give a keen edge or a fine point to a thing; to edge; to point; as, to sharpen a knife, an ax or the teeth of a saw; to sharpen a sword.
All of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his share and his coulter, and his ax and his mattock. 1 Samuel 13:20.
2. To make more eager or active; as, to sharpen the edge of industry.
3. To make more pungent and painful. The abuse of wealth and greatness may hereafter sharpen the sting of conscience.
4. To make more quick, acute or ingenious. The wit or the intellect is sharpened by study.
5. To render perception more quick or acute.
Th’ air sharpen’d his visual ray
To objects distant far. Milton.
6. To render more keen; to make more eager for food or for any gratification; as, to sharpen the appetite; to sharpen a desire.
7. To make biting, sarcastic or severe. Sharpen each word.
8. To render less flat, or more shrill or piercing.
Inclosures not only preserve sound, but increase and sharpen it. Bacon.
9. To make more tart or acid; to make sour; as, the rays of the sun sharpen vinegar.
10. To make more distressing; as, to sharpen grief or other evis.
11. In music, to raise a sound by means of a sharp.
SHARPEN, v.i. To grow or become sharp.
SHARPER, n. A shrewd man in making bargains; a tricking fellow; a cheat in bargaining or gaming.
Sharpers, as pikes, prey upon their own kind. L’Estrange.
SHARPLY, adv.
1. With a keen edge or a fine point.
2. Severely; rigorously; roughly.
They are to be more sharply chastised and reformed than the rude Irish. Spenser.
3. Keenly; acutely; vigorously; as the mind and memory sharply exercised.
4. Violently; vehemently.
At the arrival of English embassadors, the soldiers were sharply assailed with wants. Hayward.
5. With keen perception; exactly; minutely.
You contract your eye, when you would see sharply. Bacon.
6. Acutely; wittily; with nice discernment.
SHARPNESS, n.
1. Keenness of an edge or point; as the sharpness of a razor or a dart.
2. Not obtuseness.
3. Pungency; acidity; as the sharpness of vinegar.
4. Pungency of pain; keenness; severity of pain or affliction; as the sharpness of pain, grief or anguish.
5. Painfulness; afflictiveness; as the sharpness or calamity.
And the best quarrels in the heat are curst
By those that feel their sharpness. Shak.
6. Sverity of language; pungency; satirical sarcasm; as the sharpness of a satire or rebuke.
Some did all folly with just sharpness blame. Dryden.
7. Acuteness of intellect; the power of nice discernment; quickness of understanding; ingenuity; as sharpness of wit or understanding.
8. Quickness of sense or perception; as the sharpness of sight.
9. Keenness; sverity as the sharpness of the air or weather.
SHARP-SET, a. [sharp and set.]
1. Eager in appetite; affected by keen hunger; ravenous; as an eagle or a lion sharp-set.
2. Eager in the desire for gratification.
The town is sharp-set on new plays. Pope.
SHARP-SHOOTER, n. [Sharp and shoot.] One skilled in shooting at an object with exactness; one skilled with the use of the rifle.
SHARP-SIGHTED, a. [sharp and sight.]
1. Having quick or acute sight; as a sharp-sighted eagle or hawk.
2. Having quick discernment or acute understanding; as a sharp-sighted opponent; sharp-sighted judgement.
SHARP-VISAGED, a. [sharp and visage.] Having a sharp or thin face.
SHARP-WITTED, a. Having an acute or nicely discerning mind.
SHASTER, n. Among the Hindoos, a sacred book containing the dogmas of the religion of the Bramis and the ceremonies of their worship, and serving as a commentary on the Vedam. It consists of three parts; the first containing the moral law of the Hindoos; the second the rites and ceremonies of their religion; the third the distribution of the people into tribes or classes, with the duties pertaining to each.
SHATTER, v.t.
1. To braek at once into many pieces; to dash, burst, rend or part by violence into fragments; as, explosion shatters a rock or bomb; lightning shatters the sturdy oak; steam shatters a boiler; a monarchy is shattered by revolt.
2. To rend; to crack; to split; to rive into splinters.
3. To dissapate; to make incapable of close and continued application; as a man of shattered humor.
4. To disorder; to derange; to render delirious; as, to shatter teh brain, the man seems to be shattered in his intellect.
SHATTER, v.i. To be broken into fragments; to fall or crumble to pieces by any force applied.
Some shatter and fly in many places. Bacon.
SHATTER-BRAINED, a. [shatter and brain or pated.]
SHATTER-PATED, a.
1. Disordered or wandering in intellect.
2. Heedless wild; not consistent.
SHATTERED, pp. Broken or dashed to pieces; rent; disordered.
SHATTERING, ppr. Dashing or breaking to pieces; rending; disordering.
SHATTERS, n. [I believe used only in the plural.] The fragments of any thing forcibly rent or broken; used chiefly or solely in the phrases, to break or rend into shatters.
SHATTERY, a. Brittle; easily falling into many pieces; not compact; loose of texture; as shattery spar.
SHAVE, v.t. pret. shaved; pp. shaved or shaven.
1. To cut or pare off something from the surface of the body by a razor or other edged instrument, by rubbing, scraping or drawing the instrument along the surface; as, tto shave the chin and cheeks; to shave the head of its hair.
He shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing. Numbers 6:9.
2. To shave off, to cut off.
Neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard. Leviticus 21:5.
3. To pare close.
The bending sythe
Shaves all the surface of the waving green. Gay.
4. To cut off thin slices; or tho cut in thin slices.
5. To skim along the surface near it; to sweep along.
He shaves with level wing the deep. Milton.
6. To strip; to oppress by extortion; to fleece.
7. To make smooth by paring or cutting off slices; as, to shave hoops or staves.
To shave a note. to purchase it at a great discount, a discount much beyong the legal rate of interest. [A low phrase.]
SHAVE, n. An instrument with a long blade and a handle at each end for shaving hoops, etc.; called also a drawing knife.
SHAVED, pp. Pared; made smooth with a razor or other cutting instrument; fleeced.
SHAVE-GRASS, n. A plant of the genus Equisetum.
SHAVELING, n. A man shaved; a friar or religious; in contempt.
SHAVER, n.
1. One that shaves or whose occupation is to shave.
2. One that is close in bargains or a sharp dealer.
This Lewis is a cunning shaver. Swift.
3. One that fleeces; a pillager; a punderer.
By these shavers the Turks werestripped of all they had. Knolles.
SHAVER, n. A boy or young man. This word is still in common use in New England. It must be numbered among our original words.
SHAVING, ppr. Paring the surface with a razor or ather sharp instrument; making smooth by paring; fleecing.
SHAVING, n.
1. The act of paring the surface.
2. A thin slice pared off with a shave, a knife, a plan or other cutting instrument.
SHAW, n. A thicket; a small wood. [Local in England. In America not used.]
SHAW-FOWL, n. [shaw and fowl.] the representation or image of a fowl make by fowlers to shoot at.
SHAWL, n. A cloth of wool, cotton, silk or hair, used by females as a loose covering for the neck and shoulders. Shawls are of various sizes from that of a hankerchief to that of a counterpane. Shawls were originally manufactured in the heart of India from the fine silky wool of the Thibet sheep, and the best shawls now come from Cashmere; but they are also manufactured in Europe. The largest kinds are used in train-dresses and for long scarfs.
SHAWM, n. A hautboy or cornet; written also shalm, but not in use.
SHE, pronoun personal of the feminine gender. [She is perhaps the Heb. a woman or wife. L. quoe.]
1. A pronoun which is a substitute for the name of a female, and of the feminine gender; the word which refers to a female mentioned in the preceding or following part of a sentence or discourse.
Then denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. Genesis 18:15.
2. She is sometimes used as a noun for waman or female, and in the plural; but in contempt or in ludicrous language.
Lady, you are the cruell’st she alive. Shak.
The shes of Italy shall not betray
My interest. Shak.
3. She is also used in composition for female, representing sex; as a she-bear; a she-cat.
SHEADING, n. In the isle of Man, a riding, tithing or division, in which there is a corner or chief constable. The isle is divided into six sheading.
SHEAF, n. plu. sheaves. [L. scopa, scopo.]
1. A quantity of the stalks of wheat, rye, oats or barley bound together; a bundle of stalks or straw.
-The reaper fills his greedy hands,
And binds the golden sheaves in brittle bands. Dryden.
2. Any bundle or collection; as a sheaf of arrows.
SHEAF, v.t. To collect and bind; to make sheaves.
SHEAL, to shell, not used.
SHEAR, v.t. pret. sheared; pp. sheared or shorn. The old pret. shore is entirely obsolete.
1. To cut or clip something from the surface with an instrument of two blades; to separate any thing from the surface by shears, scissors or a like instrument; as, to shear sheep; to shear cloth. It is appropriately used for the cutting of wool from sheep on their skins, for clipping the nap from cloth, but may be applied to other things; as, a horse shears the ground in feeding much closer than an ox.
2. To separate by shears; as, to shear a fleece.
3. To reap. [Not in use.] Scotish.
SHEAR, To deviate. [See Sheer.]
SHEARBILL, n. [shear and bill.] A fowl, the black skimmer or cut-water.
SHEARD, n. A shard. [See Shard.]
SHEARED, pp. Clipped; deprived of woll, hair, nap.
SHEARER, n. One that shears; as a shearer of sheep.
SHEARMAN, n. sher’man. One whose occupation is to shear cloth.
SHEARS, n. plu. [from the verb.]
1. An instrument consisting of two blades with a bevel edge, movable on a pin, used for cutting cloth and other substances by interception between the two blades. Shears differ from scissors chiefly in being larger.
Fate urg’d the shears and cut the sylph in twain. Pope.
2. Something in the form of the blades of shears.
3. Wings. [Not in use.]
4. An engine for raising heavy weights. [See Sheers.]
5. The denomimation of the age of sheep from the cutting of the teeth; as sheep of one shear, two shear, etc. [Local.]
SHEAR-WATER, n. A fowl. [Larus niger.] A species of petrel, (Procellaria puffinus, Linn.) found on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. The cut-water, (Rhryncops nigra.)
SHEAT. [See Sheet.]
SEHAT-FISH, n. A fish, a species of Silurus, having a long slimy body destitute of scales, and the back dusky, like that of an eel.
SHEATH, n.
1. A case for the reception of a sword or other long and slender instrument; a scabbard. A sheath is that which separates, and hence a defense.
2. In botany, a membrane investing a stem or branch, as in grasses.
3. Any thin covering for defense; the wing-case of an insect.
SHEATH, SHEATHE, v.t.
1. To put in a case or scabbard; as, the sheathe a sword or dagger.
2. To inclose or cover with a sheath or case.
The leopard-deeps the claws of his fore feet turned up from the ground, and sheathed in the skin of his toes. Grew.
‘Tis in my breast she sheathes her dagger now. Dryden.
3. To cover or line; as, to sheathe the bowels with demulcent or mucilaginous substances.
4. To obtund or blunt, as acrimonious or sharp particles.
5. To fit with a sheath.
6. To case or cover with boards or with sheets of copper; as, to sheathe a ship to protect it from the worms.
To sheathe the sword, a figurative phrase, to put an end to war or emnity; to make peace. It corresponds to the Indian phrase, to bury the hatchet.
SHEATHED, pp.
1. Put in a sheath; inclosed or covered in a case; covered; lined; invested with a membrane.
2. a. In botany, vaginate; invested by a sheath or cylindrical membranaceous tube, which is the base of the leaf, as the stalk or culm in grasses.
SHEATHING, ppr. Putting in a sheath; inclosing in a case; covering; liningl investing with a membrane.
SHEATHING, n, The casing or covering of a ship’s bottom and sides; or the materials for such covering.
SHEATHLESS, a. Without a sheath or case for covering; unsheathed.
SHEATH-WINGED, a. [sheath and wing.] Having cases for covering the wings; as a sheath-winged insect.
SHEATHY, a. Forming a sheath or a case.
SHEAVE, n. In seamen’s language, a wheel in which the rope works in a block. It is made of hard wood or a metal. When made of wood, it is sometimes bushed, that is, has a piece or perforated brass let into its center, the better to sustain the friction of the pin.
SHEAVE, v.t. To bring together; to collect. [Not in use.]
SHEAVED, a. Made of straw. [Not in use.]
SHEAVE-HOLE, n. A channel cut in a mast, yard or other timber, in which to fix a sheave.
SHECKLATON, n. A kind of gilt lether. [Not in use.]
SHED, v.t. pret. and pp. shed.
1. To pour out; to effuse; to spill; to suffer to flow out; as, to shed tears; to shed blood. The sun sheds light on the earth; the stars shed a more feeble light.
This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Matthew 26:28.
2. To let fall; to cast; as, the trees shed their leaves on autumn; fowls shed their fethers; and serpents shed their skin.
3. To scatter to emit; to throw off; to diffuse; as, flowers shed their sweets of fragrance.
SHED, v.i. To let fall its parts.
White oats are apt to shed most as they lie, and black as they stand. Mortimer.
SHED, n.
1. A slight building; a covering of timber and boards, etc. for shelter against and the inclemencies of weather; a poop house or hovel; as a horse-shed.
The first Aletes born in a lowly shed. Fairfax.
Sheds of reeds which summer’s heat repel. Sandys.
2. In composition; effusion; as in slood-shed. [See the Verb.]
SHED, v.t. To keep off; to prevent from entering; as a hut, umbrella or garment that sheds rain.
SHEDDER, n. One that sheds or causes to flow out; as a shedder of blood.
SHEDDING, ppr. Effusing; causing to flow out; letting fall; casting; throwing off; sending out; diffusing; keeping off.
SHEEN, SHEENY, a. Bright; glittery; showy.
Up rose each warrior bold and brave,
Glist’ring in filed steel and armor sheen. Fairfax. [This word is used only in poetry.]
SHEEN, n. Brightness; splendor.
SHEEP, n. sing. and plu.
1. An animal of the genus Ovis, which is one of the most useful species that the Creator has bestowed upon man, and its wool constitutes a principal material of warm clothing, and its flesh is a great article of fool. The sheep is remarkable for its harmless temper ant its tmidity. the varieties are numerous.
2. In contempt, a silly fellow.
3. Figuratively, God’s people are called sheep, as being under the government and protection of Christ, the great Shepherd.