shepherd 
on the chance of getting something out of him. 
[Slang, Australia.] 
The speculators who sat dangling their legs in their in- 
fant pits, shepherding their claims, awaiting with anxiety 
. . . the run of the vein. 
Percy Clarke, New Chum in Australia, p. 71. 
shepherd-bird (shep'erd-berd), n. A book- 
name of the rose-starling, Pastor roseus. See 
cut under pastor. 
shepherd-dog (shep'erd-dog), . [< ME. sehep- 
erde doge, schepphirde dogg; < shepherd + dog.] 
Same as shepherd's dog (which see, under shep- 
herd). 
shepherdess (shep'er-des), n. [< shepherd + 
-ess.] A woman who tends sheep ; a rural lass. 
She put herself into the garb of a shepherdess. 
Sir P. Sidney. 
Shepherdia (she-per'di-a), n. [NL. (Nuttall, 
1818), named after John' Shepherd (died 1836), 
curator of the botanic garden at Liverpool.] A 
genus of apetalous plants, of the order Elasag- 
i/ui'i :i . It is distinguished from the two other genera 
of the order by its opposite leaves, and by dioecious flowers 
with a four-cleft, somewhat spherical or ovoid calyx, and a 
thick disk with eight lobes, the male flowers with eight 
stamens and the ovary in the female with one cell and one 
ovule. There are 3 species, all natives of North America, 
chiefly in the western United States one, S. Canadensis. 
with yellowish flowers and insipid reddish fruit, extend- 
ing east to Vermont. They are small shrubs covered with 
a silvery or rusty shining scurf, and bearing petioled ob- 
long and entire leaves, small flowers in short spikes or ra- 
cemes, and numerous fleshy berries (each formed of the 
thickened calyx) persistent around the true fruit, which is 
a small achene. S. argenUa, the buffalo-berry, also known 
as rabbit-berry and beefsuet-tree, is an abundant spiny shrub 
found from New Mexico and the Missouri to Hudson's 
Bay ; its branches are covered in autumn with clusters of 
scarlet berries of the size of currants, containing an edible 
acid and mealy pulp, once an important article of food with 
the Utah Indians. 
shepherdish (shep'er-dish), a. [< shepherd + 
-islil .] Resembling a shepherd ; suiting a shep- 
herd; pastoral; rustic. 
The fair Pamela . . . had . . . taken on shepherdish ap- 
parel, which was of russet cloth. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i. 
shepherdism (shep'er-dizm), n. [< shepherd + 
-ism.] Pastoral life or occupation. [Rare.] 
shepherdling (shep'erd-ling), n. [Formerly 
also shephardlinf/, shepheardliiig ; < shepherd T 
-lingi.] A little or young shepherd. [Rare.] 
The Fourth 's another valiant Shepheardliny, 
That for a Cannon takes his silly sling, 
And to a Scepter turns his Shepheards staff, 
Great Prince, great Prophet, Poet, Psalmograph. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Handy-Crafts. 
On a hillock thou mayst sing 
Unto a handsome shephardlina. 
Herriclr, To His Muse. 
shepherdlyt (shep'erd-li), . [< shepherd + 
-ly'.] Pastoral; rustic. 
Their poems were named Eglogues or shepheardlyisdke. 
Pnttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 80. 
shepherd's-bag (shep'erdz-bag), . Same as 
shepherd's-purse. 
shepherd' S-club (shep'erdz-klub), n. The com- 
mon mullen, Vcrbaaeum Thapsun. See cut un- 
der mullen. [Eng.] 
shepherd's-cress (shep'erdz-kres), M. A dwarf 
European cruciferous plant, Teesdalia nitdi- 
caulis. [Prov. Eng.] 
shepherd s-joy (shep'erdz-joi), . A plant of 
one or two species, forming the liliaceous genus 
GeitonopJesium, found in Australia, New Cale- 
donia, and the Pacific isl- 
ands. It is an evergreen 
twiner climbing to a con- 
siderable height, bearing 
purplish-green flowers in 
cymes. [Australia.] 
shepherd's-knot (shep'- 
erdz-not), n. The herb 
tormentil, Potentilla Tor- 
mentilla. 
shepherd's-myrtle (shep'- 
erdz-mer"tl), n. See Bus- 
cus. 
shepherd's-needle (shep'- 
erdz-ne"dl), n. Same as 
lady's-comb. 
shepherd-spider (shep'- 
erd-spi"der), . A harvest- 
man or daddy-long-legs; 
any phalangiid. 
shepherd's-pouch (shep'- 
erdz-pouch), n. Same as 
, IP ' Plant with Flowers and 
Sliepnerd S-pttrSe. Fruits of Shepherd's-purse 
shepherd's-purse (shep'- iSf^Tow'TpS 
erdz-pers), w. A common 
cruciferous weed, Capsella Bursa-pastoris. it 
has a cluster of toothed or pinnatifid root-leaves, and a 
5568 
short stem with longer wiry branches upon which small 
white flowers are racemed. These are followed by flat 
obcordate-triangular pods, suggesting the common name. 
The plant has been used as an antiscorbutic and in hema- 
turia. It has also been called shepherd's pouch or -bay, 
caseweed, clappede-pouch, mother's-heart, etc. 
shepherd's-rod ( shep 'erdz- rod), . A small 
kind of teasel, Dipxacus pilostis, growing in Eu- 
rope. 
shepherd's-staff (shep'erdz-staf), n. Same as 
shepherd's-rod. 
she-pine (she'pln), n. [Cf. she-oak.] A large 
Australian conifer, Podocarpus elatn. 
Sheppey argentine. See argentine and pfiirl- 
side. 
sheppickt (shep'ik), . [Also sheppeck; a var. 
of sheep-pick.] A kind of hay-fork. Nares. 
sheppy (shep'i), n. ; pi. sheppies (-iz). [Also 
sheppey; of. shepen, shippen.] A sheep-cote; 
a sheep-shed. 
I took the two finest and heaviest [sheep], and with one 
beneath my right arm, and the other beneath my left, I 
went straight home to the upper sheppey, and set them in- 
side and fastened them. 
.ft. />. fltaclctiKtre, Lorna Doone, xlii. 
shepstare (shep'star). n. [Also shepster, chep- 
ster; < sheep 1 + stare*.] The starling, Sturnus 
rulgaris. Compare sheep-rack, 2. [Prov. Eng.] 
Sometime I would betray the byrds 
That lyght on lymed tree, 
Especially in Shepstare tyme, 
When thicke in flockes they flye. 
Qooge, Eglogs, vi. (Vanes.) 
shepstarling (shep'star'ling), n. Same as shep- 
stare. 
shepster 1 t(shep'ster),. [< sheep 1 + -ster.] A 
sheep-shearer. Palsgrare. (Halliwell.) 
shepster 2 (shep'ster), n. Same as shepstare. 
shepster 3 t, See shapester. 
Sherardia (she-riir'di-a), n. [NL. (Dillenius, 
1719), named after W."Sherard (1659-1728), an 
English botanist.] A genus of gamopetalous 
plants, of the order Rubiacrte. It is unlike all others 
of the tribe Qaliex in having lanceolate and persistent 
calyx-lobes, and is characterized by subsessile flowers Bur- 
rounded by an involucre, and by a two-branched style and 
capitate stigma. It has a funnel-shaped corolla with four 
ovate spreading lobes, four stamens, and a two-celled ovary 
containing two ovules and ripening into twin nutlets. The 
only species, S. arvensis, the field-madder, also known as 
spurwort, is a native of Europe and the Mediterranean re- 
gion from Persia westward. It is a slender, roughish, and 
procumbent herb, with four-angled branches, and lanceo- 
late prickly-pointed leaves four or six in a whorl. The 
small pink or blue flowers are borne in clusters surrounded 
by an involucre formed of united bracts. 
sherbertt, An obsolete form of sherbet. 
sherbet (sher'bet), n. [Formerly also scherbet, 
sherbert, zerbet; < Turk, sherbet = Pers. Hind. 
sharbat, < Ar. sharbat, a drink, sip, beverage, 
syrup, < shariba, he drank. Cf. sorbet, a doub- 
let of sherbet, and shrub 2 , shrab, si/rup, from 
the same AT. source.] 1. A favorite cooling 
drink of the East, made of fruit-juices diluted 
with water, and variously sweetened and fla- 
vored. It is cooled with snow when this can be 
procured. 2. A water-ice, variously flavored. 
sherbetlee (sher'bet-le), n. A seller of sher- 
bet; especially, an itinerant sherbet-seller in 
the streets of a Levantine city. 
sherbetzide (sher'bet-zld), n. An itinerant ven- 
der of sherbet, syrup, etc., in Eastern towns. 
sherd (sherd), n. Same as shard 1 . 
shereH, and . A Middle English form of 
shear 1 , sheer 1 , sheer 3 . 
shere 2 t (sher), n. In minting, the deviation 
from standard weight permitted by law, now 
called the remedy. Encyc. Brit., XVI. 482. 
shereef, n. See sherif. 
shereefee (she-re'fe), . [Ar. "sharifi, cf . ashrafi, 
a counter of gold, < sharif, noble : see sherif. Cf . 
noble, the name of an English coin.] A gold 
coin formerly current in Egypt and Turkey, of 
the value of 9s. 4d. English (about $2.24). Also 
called altoon. 
shere-grasst, n. An obsolete form of shear- 
grass. 
sheregrig (sher'grig), n. An unidentified ani- 
mal : so named in the following quotation. 
Weasels and polecats, sheregrigs, carrion crows, 
Seen and smelt only by thine eyes and nose. 
Wolcot (P. Pindar), p. 186. 
shereiuan, . A dialectal form of shireman. 
Shere Thursdayt. See Sheer Thursday. 
sherewatert, An obsolete spelling of shear- 
water. 
sherif, Shereef (she-ref '), M. [Also sheriff, sche- 
rif, sherrife, cherif; = F. cherif = Sp. jerife = 
Pg. xarife, xerife, cherif, a sherif (cf. Sp. xarifo, 
adorned, well-dressed), = Turk, sherif = Hind. 
sharif, noble, illustrious, a prince, a descendant 
of Mohammed, = Pers. sharif, noble, < Ar. sha- 
sheriffalty 
rif, lofty, noble, applied to the descendants of 
Mohammed through his daughter Fatima, wife 
of Ali ; cf. sharaf, elevation, nobility, sharfa, a 
pinnacle, etc.] 1. A descendant of Mohammed 
through his daughter Fatima. 
The relations of Mahomet, called in Arabic Sherif or 
noble, by the Turks Emir or prince, have the priviledge 
of being exempt from appearing before any judge but 
their own head. Pococke, Description of the East, I. 171. 
2. A prince or ruler ; specifically, the chief ma- 
gistrate of Mecca. 
sheriff 1 (sher'if), w. [Also sometimes in the 
restored or explanatory form shire-reere; also 
sometimes contracted shrieve, early mod. E. 
sheriffe, schereff, shireeve, etc., < ME. sherere, 
scherrere, shirere, shirrere, sckyrere, sehirreve, 
syrreve (pi. skireven, schirreres', shrives), < AS. 
scir-gerefa, 'shire-reeve,' < scire, shire, + gere- 
fa, a reeve, officer: see shire 1 and reeve 1 . Cf. 
/mi ureeve, portreeve.] The chief civil officer 
charged with administering justice within a 
county, under direction of the courts, or of the 
crown or other executive head of the state, and 
usually having also some incidental judicial 
functions, (a) In England, the chief officer of the 
crown in every county or shire, who does all the sov- 
ereign's business in the county, the crown by letters pat- 
ent committing the custody of the county to him alone. 
Sheriffs are appointed by the crown upon presentation of 
the judges in a manner partly regulated by law and partly 
by custom (see pricking) ; the citizens of London, however, 
have the right of electing the sheriffs for the city of Lon- 
don and the county of Middlesex. Those appointed are 
bound under a penalty to serve the office, except in speci- 
fied cases of exemption or disability. As keeper of the 
queen's peace, the sheriff is the first man in the county, 
and superior in rank to any nobleman therein during his 
office, which he holds for a year. He is specially intrust- 
ed with the execution of the laws and the preservation of 
the peace, and for this purpose he has at his disposal the 
whole civil force of the county in old legal phraseology, 
the posse comitatus. He has also some judicial functions, 
less extensive now than formerly. The most ordinary of 
his functions, which he always executes by a deputy called 
under-sheriff, consists in the execution of writs. The sher- 
iff performs in person such duties only as are either purely 
honorary, such as attendance upon the judges on circuit, 
or of some dignity and public importance, such as the pre- 
siding over elections and the holding of county meetings, 
which he may call at any time. 
A shirrene hadde he been and a couutour. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to 0. T., 1. 369. 
Erlez of Ynglande with archers ynewe : 
Schirreoes schaiply schiftys the comonns. 
Marie Arthvre (E. E. T. S.X 1. 725. 
"Rise vp," he seid, "thou prowde schereff." 
RMn Hood and the Monk (Child's Ballads, V. 6). 
The reeve of the shire had doubtless been a fiscal of- 
ficer from the beginning. It was the Sheriff who had to 
see to the King's profit and his own in every corner of his 
shire. E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, V. 294. 
(5) In Scotland, the chief local judge of a county. There 
are two grades of sheriffs, the chief or superior sheriffs 
and the sheriffs substitute (besides the lord lieutenant of 
the county, who has the honorary title of sheriff-principal), 
both being appointed by the crown. The chief sheriff, 
usually called simply the sheriff, may have more than one 
substitute under him, and the discharge of the greater 
part of the duties of the office now practically rests with 
the sheriffs-substitute, the sheriff being (except in one or 
two cases) a practising advocate in Edinburgh, while the 
sheriff -substitute is prohibited from taking other employ- 
ment, and must reside within his county. The civil juris- 
diction of the sheriff extends to all personal actions on 
contract, bond, or obligation without limit, actions for 
rent, possessory actions, etc., in which cases there is an 
appeal from the decision of the sheriff-substitute to the 
sheriff, and from him to the Court of Session. He has 
also a summary jurisdiction in small-debt cases where 
the value is not more than 12. In criminal cases the 
sheriff has jurisdiction in all offenses the punishment for 
which is not more than two years' imprisonment. He has 
also jurisdiction in bankruptcy cases to any amount. (<} 
In the United States, except in New Hampshire and Rhode 
Island, sheriffs are elected by popular vote, the qualifi- 
cation being that the sheriff must be a man, of age, a citi- 
zen of the United States and of the State, and a resident 
in the county ; usually he can hold no other office, and 
is not eligible for reelection until after the lapse of a 
limited period. In all the States there are deputy sheriffs, 
who are agents and servants of the sheriff. In New York 
and some other States there is, as in England, an under- 
sheriff, who acts in place of his chief in the latter's ab- 
sence, etc. The principal duties of the sheriff are to 
preserve peace and order throughout the county, to at- 
tend the courts as the administrative officer of the law, 
to guard prisoners and juries, to serve the process and 
execute the judgments of the courts, and to preside at 
inquisitions and assessments of damages on default. 
High sheriff, the sheriff as distinguished from the under- 
sheriff and other deputies. Joint Sheriff, two persons 
jointly appointed sheriff, or one of such persons. Sheriff 
Of Middlesex case, a decision in 1840, noted in English 
constitutional history, on the relative powers of Parlia- 
ment, to imprison for contempt and the courts to discharge 
on habeas corpus. Sheriff's Jury. See jury. Sheriff 
turn, in early Eng. lair, the periodical court or session 
held by a sheriff successively In the various hundreds of 
his county, at which the freeholders were bound to appear 
as a part of their service. Statute Of Sheriffs. See 
statute. 
Sheriff-, . See sherif. 
sheriffalty (sher'if-al-ti), n. [< sheriff + -nlti/. 
after the equiv. shrievalty.] 1. The office or 
