sheep

Everyday

1. A sheep is a farm animal with a thick woolly coat. A sheep has 4 legs. tree →
2. Farmers keep sheep for wool, meat and milk. tree →
3. A person who just copies others is sometimes called a sheep. tree →

In the lessons

Maths: animals counted on a farm; their legs (4 each) or wool. Science and farming: a baby sheep is a lamb, a male is a ram, a female is a ewe; shearing the wool. Everyday: counting sheep to fall asleep; New Zealand and Australia have very many sheep. Stories: the boy who cried wolf, Little Bo-Peep.

Examples

• A farmer has 45 sheep. tree →
• Each sheep gives 3 kg of wool. tree →
• 12 sheep are in the barn and the rest are in the field. tree →
• How many legs do 6 sheep have? tree →
• The sheepdog rounded up the sheep. tree →
• The farmer shears the sheep in spring. tree →
• When I can't sleep, I count sheep. tree →
• A lamb is a baby sheep. tree →
• "Whose sheep are these?" he asks. tree →

Note

Plural is the same: one sheep, ten sheep (not «sheeps»). Animals counted; 4 legs each, so legs = sheep × 4. Trap: «sheep» is the same for one and many — look at the verb (is/are) or the number. Meat from sheep is lamb or mutton.

In Jewish tradition

Sheep were the main flock animals of the Israelites and the patriarchs, and also used for offerings such as the lamb. Shepherding became a sign of the patriarchs, Moses and later David. In the primary lessons: Maths: animals counted on a farm; their legs (4 each) or wool. Science and farming: a baby sheep is a lamb, a male is a ram, a female is a ewe; shearing the wool. Everyday: counting sheep to fall asleep; New Zealand and Australia have very many sheep. Stories: the boy who cried wolf, Little Bo-Peep.

Examples

• Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep. (Torah GEN.31.19, JPS 1917) tree →
• Issachar is a large-boned ass, couching down between the sheep-folds. (Torah GEN.49.14, JPS 1917) tree →
• and Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran; fortified cities, and folds for sheep. (Torah NUM.32.36, JPS 1917) tree →
• The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like young sheep. (Writings PSA.114.4, JPS 1917) tree →
• And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. (Prophets 1SA.25.4, JPS 1917) tree →
• And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. (Writings 2CH.29.33, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Plural is the same: one sheep, ten sheep (not «sheeps»). Animals counted; 4 legs each, so legs = sheep × 4. Trap: «sheep» is the same for one and many — look at the verb (is/are) or the number. Meat from sheep is lamb or mutton.