sheeptick

or sheep tick

[ sheep-tik ]

noun

1. a wingless, bloodsucking, dipterous insect, Melophagus ovinus, that is parasitic on sheep.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sheeptick¹

1375–1425; late Middle English scheptyke; sheep, tick ²

Example Sentences

From the profoundest deep of his teeming invention he succeeded in evolving only such utterly unsatisfying results as "rhinoceros," "polypus," and "sheeptick" in the animal kingdom, and "rhubarb," "snakeroot," and "smartweed" in the vegetable.

From Project Gutenberg