= WETHER 1.
13[?]. St. Peter & Paul, 244, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 79. Þan Nero gart his heuede of strike, For þe wedir schepe was him like.
1504. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 449. For tedderis to tua wedder scheip … xxj d.
1563. Hyll, Art Garden. (1593), 31. If that you take the maw of a weather sheepe new killed.
1583. in Phillipps, Wills (c. 1830), 273. I bequeath unto my Sonne … six wether shepe.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 638. Of the Weather-sheepe…. Al Nations do distinguish him from the ram, because of one property or defect in him, for that hee is not fit for generation.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., Penalties, 5. Such Weather-sheep … as are … for the Ships use.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 284. Fatting of Oxen, or Wether Sheep.
1834. Brit. Husb., I. 506. The next year it carried upwards of forty wether sheep.
