1.  Any one of several species of ruminants of the genus Ovis, native of the higher mountains of both hemispheres, but most numerous in Asia. [1913 Webster]
" The domestic sheep (Ovis aries) varies much in size, in the length and texture of its wool, the form and size of its horns, the length of its tail, etc. It was domesticated in prehistoric ages, and many distinct breeds have been produced; as the merinos, celebrated for their fine wool; the Cretan sheep, noted for their long horns; the fat-tailed, or Turkish, sheep, remarkable for the size and fatness of the tail, which often has to be supported on trucks; the Southdowns, in which the horns are lacking; and an Asiatic breed which always has four horns." [1913 Webster]

2.  A weak, bashful, silly fellow. Ainsworth. [1913 Webster]

3.  Fig.: The people of God, as being under the government and protection of Christ, the great Shepherd. [1913 Webster]

sheep, n. (pl. same)
1 any ruminant mammal of the genus Ovis with a thick woolly coat, esp. kept in flocks for its wool or meat, and noted for its timidity.
2 a bashful, timid, or silly person.
3 (usu. in pl.) a a member of a minister's congregation. b a parishioner.

Idiom:
separate the sheep from the goats divide into superior and inferior groups (cf. Matt. 25:33). sheep-dip
1 a preparation for cleansing sheep of vermin or preserving their wool.
2 the place where sheep are dipped in this. sheep-run an extensive sheepwalk, esp. in Australia. sheep's-bit a plant, Jasione montana, resembling a scabious.

Derivative:
sheeplike adj.

Etymology:
OE scep, sc{aelig}p, sceap

N  animal, animal kingdom, fauna, brute creation, beast, brute, creature, critter, wight, created being, creeping thing, living thing, dumb animal, dumb creature, zoophyte, mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, crustacean, shellfish, mollusk, worm, insect, arthropod, microbe, microbe, animalcule, alligator, crocodile, saurian, dinosaur (extinct), snake, serpent, viper, eft, asp, aspick, frog, toad, trout, bass, tuna, muskelunge, sailfish, sardine, mackerel, ant, mosquito, bee, honeybee, tardigrade, spider, biped, quadruped, webfoot, flocks and herds, live stock, domestic animals, wild animals, game, ferae naturae, beasts of the field, fowls of the air, denizens of the sea, black game, black grouse, blackcock, duck, grouse, plover, rail, snipe, horse, cattle, kine, ox, bull, bullock, cow, milch cow, calf, heifer, shorthorn, sheep, lamb, lambkin, ewe, ram, tup, pig, swine, boar, hog, sow, steer, stot, tag, teg, bison, buffalo, yak, zebu, dog, cat, dog, hound, pup, puppy, whelp, cur, mongrel, house dog, watch dog, sheep dog, shepherd's dog, sporting dog, fancy dog, lap dog, toy dog, bull dog, badger dog, mastiff, blood hound, grey hound, stag hound, deer hound, fox hound, otter hound, harrier, beagle, spaniel, pointer, setter, retriever, Newfoundland, water dog, water spaniel, pug, poodle, turnspit, terrier, fox terrier, Skye terrier, Dandie Dinmont, collie, feline, puss, pussy, grimalkin, gib cat, tom cat, fox, Reynard, vixen, stag, deer, hart, buck, doe, roe, caribou, coyote, elk, moose, musk ox, sambar, bird, poultry, fowl, cock, hen, chicken, chanticleer, partlet, rooster, dunghill cock, barn door fowl, feathered tribes, feathered songster, singing bird, dicky bird, canary, warbler, finch, aberdevine, cushat, cygnet, ringdove, siskin, swan, wood pigeon, vermin, varmint, pest, animal, zoological equine, bovine, vaccine, canine, feline, fishy, piscatory, piscatorial, molluscous, vermicular, gallinaceous, rasorial, solidungulate, soliped.

barbary sheep, bighorn sheep, black sheep, dall sheep, dall's sheep, domestic sheep, maned sheep, marco polo sheep, marco polo's sheep, merino sheep, mountain sheep, musk sheep, rocky mountain sheep, sheep bell, sheep botfly, sheep dip, sheep dog, sheep fescue, sheep frog, sheep gadfly, sheep ked, sheep laurel, sheep pen, sheep plant, sheep polypore, sheep rot, sheep sorrel, sheep tick, shetland sheep dog, vegetable sheep, white sheep, wild sheep