sheep-stealern.
One who steals sheep.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > stealers of animals > [noun] > stealers of other animals
deer-stealera1641
sheep-stealer1656
prig-napper1676
dognapper1901
1656 R. Sanderson 20 Serm. 378 How unequal a thing is it..That a sacrilegious Church-robber should make a mittimus for a poor sheep-stealer?
1778 S. Johnson Let. 31 Oct. (1992) III. 132 Pray how many sheepstealers did you convict?
1829 J. Hogg Shepherd's Cal. II. x. 325 A notorious sheep-stealer in the county of Mid-Lothian.
Derivatives
ˈsheep-stealing n. and adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > stealing animals > [noun] > stealing of other animals or livestock
poultry picking?a1500
sheep-stealinga1578
deer-stealing1710
dognapping1921
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > stealing animals > [adjective] > stealing sheep
sheep-stealing1701
a1578 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) II. 133 For no scheip steilling nor wrangous geir.
1648 W. Jenkyn Ὁδηγος Τυϕλος i. 6 Their trade of Sheep-stealing will..decay.
1701 Laconics (new ed.) iii. 89 One Sheep-stealing Rogue will spoil all the rest.
1826 M. R. Mitford Our Village II. 57 We shall be taken up for sheep-stealing presently ourselves.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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n.a1578