scabby sheep
English
editNoun
editscabby sheep (plural scabby sheep)
- A person who has been in bad society and is consequently shunned to prevent their bad habits or reputation from spreading.
- 1780, Jean Louis de Lolme, The History of the Flagellants, page 124:
- […] the Abbot ought to be informed of the fast, and bestow upon the Monk a corrective discipline; and that, if he did not mend his manners in consequence thereof, he ought to be expelled from the Society, as a scabby sheep, lest he should ruin others by his example.
References
edit- John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary