"sheep-biter" meaning in English

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "sheep-biting"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sheep"
      },
      "expansion": "sheep",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "biter",
        "3": "",
        "4": "one who bites"
      },
      "expansion": "biter (“one who bites”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "sheep + biter (“one who bites”). Figurative term possibly influenced by the fable \"De cane oves domini sui occidente, a quo suspensus est\" in Hecatomythium by Laurentius Abstemius (later included with Aesop's Fables as \"A Sheep-Biter Hang'd\" — see quotations).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sheep-biters",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "sheep-biter (plural sheep-biters)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "bitesheep"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1592, Thomas Nashe, Pierce Penniless",
          "text": "What curre will not bawle, & be ready to flye on a mans face, when he is set on by his master, who, if hee bee not by to encourage him, he casts his taile betwixt his legges, & steales away like a sheepe byter.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A sheepdog that worries (chases or attacks) sheep."
      ],
      "id": "en-sheep-biter-en-noun-x2cKYSyT",
      "links": [
        [
          "sheepdog",
          "sheepdog"
        ],
        [
          "worries",
          "worry"
        ],
        [
          "chase",
          "chase"
        ],
        [
          "attack",
          "attack"
        ],
        [
          "sheep",
          "sheep"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A sheepdog that worries (chases or attacks) sheep."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "6 94",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1573, Thomas Tusser, Five Hundreth Pointes of Good Husbandrie",
          "text": "His gait, like a sheep-biter, fleering aside",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1604, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton, The Honest Whore, act 2, scene 1",
          "text": "A poor man has but one ewe, and this grandee sheep-biter leaves whole flocks of fat wethers, whom he may knock down, to deuour this.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, act 2, scene 5",
          "text": "Wouldst thou not be glad to have the niggardly, / rascally sheep-biter come by some notable / shame?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1669, Sir Roger L'Estrange, Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists, Fable CCCXXX: A Sheep-Biter Hang'd, page 296",
          "text": "There are Political Sheep-biters as well as Pastoral; Betrayers of Publick Trusts as well as of Private; And Humane Curs that are as Wolvish as the Other.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A contemptible person, expecially one who practices petty thefts."
      ],
      "id": "en-sheep-biter-en-noun-LFblw0Z8",
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "contemptible",
          "contemptible"
        ],
        [
          "petty",
          "petty"
        ],
        [
          "theft",
          "theft"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete, figurative, derogatory) A contemptible person, expecially one who practices petty thefts."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "figuratively",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "git and Thesaurus:thief"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "sheepbiter"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Laurentius Abstemius"
  ],
  "word": "sheep-biter"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "sheep-biting"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sheep"
      },
      "expansion": "sheep",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "biter",
        "3": "",
        "4": "one who bites"
      },
      "expansion": "biter (“one who bites”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "sheep + biter (“one who bites”). Figurative term possibly influenced by the fable \"De cane oves domini sui occidente, a quo suspensus est\" in Hecatomythium by Laurentius Abstemius (later included with Aesop's Fables as \"A Sheep-Biter Hang'd\" — see quotations).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sheep-biters",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "sheep-biter (plural sheep-biters)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "bitesheep"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1592, Thomas Nashe, Pierce Penniless",
          "text": "What curre will not bawle, & be ready to flye on a mans face, when he is set on by his master, who, if hee bee not by to encourage him, he casts his taile betwixt his legges, & steales away like a sheepe byter.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A sheepdog that worries (chases or attacks) sheep."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sheepdog",
          "sheepdog"
        ],
        [
          "worries",
          "worry"
        ],
        [
          "chase",
          "chase"
        ],
        [
          "attack",
          "attack"
        ],
        [
          "sheep",
          "sheep"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A sheepdog that worries (chases or attacks) sheep."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1573, Thomas Tusser, Five Hundreth Pointes of Good Husbandrie",
          "text": "His gait, like a sheep-biter, fleering aside",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1604, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton, The Honest Whore, act 2, scene 1",
          "text": "A poor man has but one ewe, and this grandee sheep-biter leaves whole flocks of fat wethers, whom he may knock down, to deuour this.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, act 2, scene 5",
          "text": "Wouldst thou not be glad to have the niggardly, / rascally sheep-biter come by some notable / shame?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1669, Sir Roger L'Estrange, Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists, Fable CCCXXX: A Sheep-Biter Hang'd, page 296",
          "text": "There are Political Sheep-biters as well as Pastoral; Betrayers of Publick Trusts as well as of Private; And Humane Curs that are as Wolvish as the Other.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A contemptible person, expecially one who practices petty thefts."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "contemptible",
          "contemptible"
        ],
        [
          "petty",
          "petty"
        ],
        [
          "theft",
          "theft"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete, figurative, derogatory) A contemptible person, expecially one who practices petty thefts."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "figuratively",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "git and Thesaurus:thief"
    },
    {
      "word": "sheepbiter"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Laurentius Abstemius"
  ],
  "word": "sheep-biter"
}