scabby sheep

English

Noun

scabby sheep (plural scabby sheep)

1. 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

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary