Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A shepherds' crook.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A hook fastened to pole, by which shepherds lay hold on the legs or necks of their sheep; a shepherd's crook.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun crook, a staff used by shepherds

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

sheep +‎ hook

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word sheephook.

Examples

  • When Zelmane next returned to the arbour where she had met Musidorus she saw, walking from herward, a man in shepherdish apparel, with a sheephook in his right hand, and singing as he went a lamentable tune.

    The World's Greatest Books — Volume 08 — Fiction Various 1910

  • This island of Trinidad hath the form of a sheephook, and is but narrow; the north part is very mountainous; the soil is very excellent, and will bear sugar, ginger, or any other commodity that the Indies yield.

    The Discovery of Guiana. Paras. 1-49 1909

  • For the shepherd of that unhappy sheepfold also had climbed up some other way before he knew how to hold a sheephook, till, week after week, the hungry sheep looked up and were not fed.

    Samuel Rutherford Whyte, Alexander 1894

  • For the shepherd of that unhappy sheepfold also had climbed up some other way before he knew how to hold a sheephook, till, week after week, the hungry sheep looked up and were not fed.

    Samuel Rutherford and some of his correspondents Alexander Whyte 1878

  • Its grave and tender lament is broken by a sudden flash of indignation at the dangers around the Church, at the "blind mouths that scarce themselves know how to hold a sheephook," and to whom "the hungry sheep look up, and are not fed," while "the grim wolf" of Rome "with privy paw daily devours apace, and nothing said!"

    History of the English People, Volume V (of 8) Puritan England, 1603-1660 John Richard Green 1860

  • This island of Trinidad hath the form of a sheephook, and is but narrow; the north part is very mountainous; the soil is very excellent, and will bear sugar, ginger, or any other commodity that the Indies yield.

    The Discovery of Guiana Walter Raleigh 1586

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.