Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A pen for sheep.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fold or pen for sheep.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A fold or pen for sheep; a place where sheep are collected or confined.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An enclosure for keeping sheep.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a pen for sheep

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From sheep + fold.

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Examples

  • The entry for Tavern on the Green says: The entrance to this chronically remodeled eating-drinking-dancing spot, built around Central Park’s 1870 sheepfold, is at 67th Street and Central Park West.

    2008 September 15 « One-Minute Book Reviews 2008

  • The sheepfold is the church, he is the door by which all enter; he is also the Good Shepherd; there are also the shepherds or teachers under him who enter by the door; the saints are the sheep; those who seek to become leaders of God's people, but have not come in through Christ, are false leaders, thieves and robbers.

    The New Testament Commentary Vol. III: John 1886

  • The sheepfold is a figure of the church, the door into which is Christ.

    The New Testament Commentary Vol. III: John 1886

  • The morning came, and no father and mother; only the snow falling thicker than ever, and almost blocking them in; but still Agnes did not lose hope; she thought her father and mother might have taken shelter at night in some bield, as she would have termed a sheepfold, or that the snow might have prevented them from setting out at all, and they might come home by Grasmere in the morning.

    A Book of Golden Deeds 1864

  • He, who scoffed so at the official honors and the "sheepfold" of the academies, suddenly remembered that several years before, after one of his successes, they had elected him a member of the Academy of Fine Arts. Cotoner was astonished to see the importance he began to attach to this unsolicited distinction, at which he had always laughed.

    Woman Triumphant (La Maja Desnuda) Vicente Blasco Ib����ez 1897

  • On a grander scale, Wordsworth and Coleridge’s collection of poetry is, to Poe, an incomplete narrative sheepfold which is unable to keep the reader within the boundaries of its morals.

    Wordsworth, the _Lyrical Ballads_, and Literary and Social Reform in Nineteenth Century America 1999

  • French Vocabulary de temps en temps = from time to time; La Naissance de Jésus = The Birth of Jesus (from the book "Grande Bible Pour Les Enfants," Chantecler edition); la bergerie (f) = shelter (sheepfold)

    mangeoire - French Word-A-Day 2009

  • French Vocabulary de temps en temps = from time to time; La Naissance de Jésus = The Birth of Jesus (from the book "Grande Bible Pour Les Enfants," Chantecler edition); la bergerie (f) = shelter (sheepfold)

    French Word-A-Day: 2009

  • Instead of cowering in the corner of the sheepfold, trying to keep a couple dozen ewes between him and various imaginary dangers, Sauerkraut would begin to strut and swagger about on his scrawny legs.

    Beginner’s Grace Kate Braestrup 2010

  • A hush would fall over the sheepfold as ewes and lambs, ducks and dogs held their breath.

    Beginner’s Grace Kate Braestrup 2010

Comments

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  • Drowsily come the sheep

    And they pass through the sheepfold door;

    After one comes two,

    After one comes two,

    Comes two and then three and four.

    First one, then two, by the paths of sleep,

    Drowsily come the sheep.

    - Louis V. Ledoux, 'Slumber Song'.

    November 1, 2008