sheik
Americannoun
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Also sheikh. (in Islamic countries) the patriarch of a tribe or family; chief: a term of polite address.
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Slang. a man held to be masterful and irresistibly charming to women.
Other Word Forms
- sheiklike adjective
Etymology
Origin of sheik
First recorded in 1570–80; from Arabic shayḫ “old man, chief,” from shaka “to grow, grow up, grow old”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
By the 1960s, the Egyptian was a wealthy man who was wheeling and dealing with everyone from Arab sheiks to Papa Doc Duvalier, Haiti's notorious dictator.
From BBC
Al-Hela, a businessman and tribal sheik from Yemen, was first captured in Egypt in 2002 and held overseas before being brought to Guantánamo two years later.
From Washington Post
The key piece of evidence was a videotape of Myers meeting an FBI agent posing as an Arab sheik in a motel room at Kennedy International Airport in New York.
From Washington Post
They are asked politely by the sheik to refrain from talking during his lesson.
From Los Angeles Times
The One and its myriad extravagances are reserved for sheiks and nobles, celebrities and CEOs.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
