sheep-biting

English

Adjective

sheep-biting (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Contemptible; unscrupulous; shifty; thieving.
   • c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, act 5, scene 1:

     Show your knave's visage, with a pox to you. Show your sheep-biting face, and be hanged an hour.

   • 1624, John Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife:

     How like a sheep-biting Rogue taken i'th' manner, / And ready for the halter dost thou look now!

Related terms

• bitesheep
• sheep-biter