[OT] Dictionary - was Re: Extract Attachment from Mail

[Anne Wilson]

On Tuesday 20 February 2007 10:16, Mark Knoop wrote:
> At 18:42 on 19 Feb 2007, Anne Wilson <cannewilson at tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
> > > Oxford English Dictionary (which I would think was fairly
> > > definitive) notes the use of sheeps.
> >
> > Not in my copy - though of course few of us, if any, would have the
> > full OED. Would you like to post the entire entry?
>
> I subscribe to the website version (http://dictionary.oed.com/). The
> plural is mentioned after definition 1a. This is the basic entry, I've
> not included the various spellings, etymology or quotations...
>
> sheep, n.
>
>     1. a. Any animal of the ruminant genus Ovis (sometimes horned),
> closely allied to the goats; esp. of the widely domesticated species
> Ovis aries, of which there are many varieties, and which is reared for
> its flesh, fleece, and skin. The male of the sheep is a ram, the female
> a ewe, the young a lamb. The flesh of the adult sheep is mutton. The
> fleece yields wool, the skin is made into leather or parchment, and the
> intestines are used for the strings of musical instruments (see CATGUT).
>
>     pl. with -s.
>
<grin>  Far more quote than I intended :-)

My copy is a very well-thumbed "Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English", 
1964.  It has a very long entry of which the first part is

sheep, n. (pl.the same)  1. Kinds of wild or domesticated, timid, gregarious 
woolly occas. horned ruminant of which male is named ram, female ewe & young 
lamb.

It goes on to refer to sayings and quotations about sheep, then sheepish 
personal types, and the various derivatives of sheep~.

It's quite definite about the plural, you'll notice.  After all, you would 
say 'a flock of gulls', but you wouldn't say 'a flock of sheeps' - or would 
you? :-)

The Collins English Dictionary, of more recent vintage, is also definite that 
the plural is sheep.  Of course there is the possibility of American English 
having a different usage.

Anne