She-dragon, subs. phr. (colloquial).—1. A vixen; an elderly termagant.
2. (old).—A kind of wig.
Sheeny (or Sheney).—1. A Jew;
a Yid (q.v.): used by Gentiles
and by Jews (jocosely by the
latter). Whence (2) a pawnbroker:
pawnbroking, like the
fruit and fish trade, is mainly (in
London at least) in the hands of
Jews. Also as adj. = base,
Jewish, fraudulent: also sheen.
1847. Thackeray, Snobs, xiv. Sheeney and Moses are . . . smoking their pipes before their lazy shutters in Seven Dials.
1852. Judson, Myst. New York, iv. You hav'nt got no more stock than a broken-down sheney.
1862. Cornhill Mag., vi. 648. I shall let old Abraham, the Sheeney, have it at four punt and a half a nob.
1866. Sala, Trip to Barbary, 16. He was manifestly a Jew . . . a most splendid Sheeny.
c.1870. Broadside Ballad, 'Talkative Man from Poplar.' Last Sunday he went down Petticoat Lane, Talked a Sheeney out of his watch and chain.
1876. Hindley, Cheap Jack, 307. Tell him that the little Sheney . . . don't forget his kindness.
1879. Horsley, Auto. of Thief [Mac. Mag., xl. 501]. I took the daisies to a sheney down the gaff.
1888. Payn, Eavesdropper, 11. ii. 'Can you smash a thick 'un for me?' inquired one, handing his friend a sovereign. 'You're sure it ain't sheen?' returned the other, with a diabolical grin.
1891. Lic. Vict. Gaz. 3 Ap. Down went the East-ender smothered in gore, and . . . from all parts of the crowd there came shouts of, "the Sheenie wins!" Ibid. The Sheenies chuckled at the thought of the chosen race once more 'spoiling the Egyptians." Ibid., 23 Jan. 'Don't like that Sheeney friend of yours,' he said; 'if you don't look out he'll have you.
1893. Emerson, Lippo, xxi. I used to spend a couple of thick 'uns a Friday in fish and greenstuff, and then fill up with oranges and nuts for Sunday, going down the lane for them, buying from the Sheeneys.
Sheep, subs. (colloquial).—1.
Sheep like pigeon (q.v.) is
commonly generic for timidity
and basfulness. Thus, as subs.
= a simpleton; sheep-faced
(or sheepish) = bashful (B. E.
and Grose); sheep's-head =
a block-head (B. E., Dyche, and
Grose); sheep-headed =
stupid; sheep's heart = a
coward; sheep-hearted =
cowardly; 'Like a sheep's
head, all jaw' = 'said of a
talkative person' (Grose); old
sheepguts = a term of contempt.
d.1556. Udal, Fras. Apoph., 122. Those pereones who were sely poore soules . . . wer euen then . . . by a common prouerbe called shepes heads or shepe.
1563. Fox, Acts and Monuments, iv. 51 [Oliphant, New Eng., i. 542]. Orrmin's old sheepish now gets the new sense of stultus.
1592. Nashe, Piers Pennilesse, 45. I haue read ouer thy sheepish discourse . . . and entreated my patience to bee good to thee whilst I read it.
1593. Shakspeare, Com. Errors, iv. 1. Thou peevish sheep. Ibid. (1595), Verona, i. 1. Twenty to one then he is slipp'd already, And I have play'd the sheep in losing him. Ibid. A silly answer, and fitting well a sheep.
1605. Chapman, All Fools, ii. Ah, errant sheep's head, hast thou lived thus long, And darest not look a woman in the face?
1630. Taylor, Works [Nares]. Simple sheep-headed fools.
1632. Massinger, Maid of Honour, ii. 2. Page. You, sirrah sheep's-head, With a face cut on a cat-stick? You yeoman fewterer.
1693. Locke, Education, 70. A sheepish or conceited creature.
1749. Smollett, Gil Blas [Routledge], 216. The sheepish acquiescence of a man who stood in awe of an ecclesiastical rap on the knuckles.
