sheepshead

[ sheeps-hed ]

/ ˈʃipsˌhɛd /

noun, plural (especially collectively) sheeps·head, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) sheeps·heads for 1–3.

a deep-bodied, black-banded food fish, Archosargus probatocephalus, living along the Atlantic coast of the U.S.

a freshwater drum, Aplodinotus grunniens, of eastern North America.

sheephead.

Also called schafskopf. Cards. an earlier and simpler form of skat.

Obsolete. a foolish or stupid person.

Nearby words

sheepishly, sheeple, sheepman, sheepo, sheepshank, sheepshead, sheepshearing, sheepskin, sheepswool sponge, sheeptick, sheepwalk

Origin of sheepshead

First recorded in 1535–45; sheep + 's¹ + head

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sheepshead

Born and raised in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, he grew up in a blue-collar family.
Andrew Dice Clay on ‘Blue Jasmine,’ His Alleged Misogyny, and More|Marlow Stern|July 25, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Fox switched to a WNYW-TV report on rising water near a group of homes in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
A Hurricane of Hype|Howard Kurtz|August 28, 2011|DAILY BEAST
For sheepshead you want clam bait—for the others, mullet is best.
Lippincott's Magazine. Vol. XII, No. 33. December, 1873.|Various
One of the young women looked at the sheepshead aquarium and murmured: "What long bills they have."
The Adventures of Uncle Jeremiah and Family at the Great Fair|Charles McCellan Stevens (AKA 'Quondam')

One kind whereof is by the English called a sheepshead from the resemblance the eye of it bears with the eye of a sheep.
The Bounty of the Chesapeake|James Wharton
The wharf just across the bay at Sanibel Island is also a famous locality for sheepshead.
Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others|James Alexander Henshall
I was much interested watching the chub and sheepshead pinching off the barnacles from the piles with their chisel-like teeth.
Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others|James Alexander Henshall

British Dictionary definitions for sheepshead

sheepshead

/ (ˈʃiːpsˌhɛd) /

noun plural -head or -heads

any of several sparid fishes with strong crushing teeth, esp Archosargus rhomboidalis, of the American Atlantic, which is marked with dark bands

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012