Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A castrated male sheep or goat.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A castrated ram.
- A simplified spelling of
weather .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A castrated ram.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
castrated buck goat . - noun A
castrated ram . - noun Archaic spelling of
weather . - verb transitive To
castrate a male sheep or goat.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun male sheep especially a castrated one
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Do you really not believe that you have something vested in wether or not a top official in the White House outed an operative who may have been able to obtain better information regarding the Nuclear issues in Iran?
Think Progress » Matthews on Rove Indictment: ‘It Could Be Today’ 2006
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A wether is a castrated goat or sheep; it's probably related to a Latin word for "calf."
Week in Words Erin McKean 2012
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Indeed they are not, if imrinted upon a human at birth or bonded to a human as a kid a socialized goat is a wonderful pet- especially a neutered male called a wether…these are the “throw away” variety of goats used for weed eating ditches- and usually die from a dog attack aka dog treat on a rope.
The Fantastical Capybara: An Interview with Melanie Typaldos About Her Caplin Rous 2009
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The wether is a sort of sheep with worms in its head.
Archive 2008-08-01 2008
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The wether is a sort of sheep with worms in its head.
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Note for townies - A wether is a castrated male sheep, over one year old.
The Sheep Trade. Glyn Davies 2008
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Yea and though they lie in the field two moneths, at such time as it shall freese more then a yard thicke, the common souldier hath neither tent nor any thing else ouer his head: the most defence they haue against the wether is a felte, which is set against the winde and weather, and when Snowe commeth hee doth cast it off, and maketh him a fire, and laieth him down thereby.
The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation 2003
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All subsequently cut fleeces are known as wether wool and possess relatively somewhat less value than the first clip.
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One story has it that English shepherds used to employ a castrated ram - also know as a wether - to help manage the flock.
EzineArticles 2010
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Yea and though they lie in the field two moneths, at such time as it shall freese more then a yard thicke, the common souldier hath neither tent nor any thing else ouer his head: the most defence they haue against the wether is a felte, which is set against the winde and weather, and when
The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 03 Richard Hakluyt 1584
sumit commented on the word wether
A castrated sheep.
January 3, 2007
BrainyBabe commented on the word wether
A castrated male sheep. Female mammals can also have their reproductive potential eliminated.
Most famously, this is the bellwether, the lead animal or an outlier, who creates just enough noise for the shepherd to keep track of where the whole flock is.
November 17, 2008
bilby commented on the word wether
See WordNet definition above.
November 17, 2008
ruzuzu commented on the word wether
Cf. dinmont.
August 24, 2010