wether
Americannoun
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a castrated male sheep.
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Also called wether wool. wool from previously shorn sheep.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of wether
before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Old Saxon withar, Old High German widar, Old Norse vethr, Gothic withrus
Explanation
A wether is a ram or billy goat that was castrated at a young age. Wethers can be housed with the female sheep or goats, but intact bucks and rams usually are kept separately. Wether comes from an Old English word for – surprise!— a castrated ram. This word has been around as long as people have been talking about sheep, which is a long time. A bellwether is literally the lead wether that wears a bell, but now it’s come to refer to any leader. The word wether is rarely used unless you’re a shepherd or a farmer, for the rest of us it’s often just the wrong homophone, whether we care to admit it or not.
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.
See Examples For:
At the time I just said it made you think wether you want to carry on in football.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 8, 2019
I don’t know wether you are aware of this, but I, too, am a tarrif man.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 10, 2018
The odds are 100 percent that I do not give a flying flip wether or not Donald pecks Hillary on the cheek.
From New York Times ● Sep. 26, 2016
Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, who will become deputy majority leader next year, said that the conference has plenty of time to decide wether to stay nuclear.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 19, 2014
The moste prinsipal bizness ov the peopil waz pealing bark in the winter, and pitchin cents az soon az warm wether sot in.
From The Complete Works of Josh Billings by Shaw, Henry W.
One inconvenience attending this plan is the necessity of fattening the maiden ewes as well as the wethers.
From Sheep, Swine, and Poultry Embracing the History and Varieties of Each; The Best Modes of Breeding; Their Feeding and Management; Together with etc. by Jennings, Robert
A hawk arose from a fluff of feathers, From a distant fold came a bleat of wethers.
From Reynard the Fox by Masefield, John
We subsequently saw several of these "grey wethers" in the grounds of Cobham Hall, and we noticed small masses of the same stone in situ in Pear Tree Lane, near Gad's Hill Place.
From A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land by Hughes, William R. (William Richard)
High-fed wethers have reached from thirty-two to even forty pounds a quarter.
From Sheep, Swine, and Poultry Embracing the History and Varieties of Each; The Best Modes of Breeding; Their Feeding and Management; Together with etc. by Jennings, Robert
It is not very common, in the North, for wool-growers to fatten their wethers for market by extra winter feeding.
From Sheep, Swine, and Poultry Embracing the History and Varieties of Each; The Best Modes of Breeding; Their Feeding and Management; Together with etc. by Jennings, Robert
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.
