dial. [Cf. KEB sb.1] intr. Of a ewe: a. To cast a lamb prematurely, or dead. b. To keb at, to refuse to suckle (a lamb).
1816. Scott, Bl. Dwarf, ii. Bewitching the sheep, causing the ewes to ‘keb.’
1883. Graham, Writings, II. 36 (E.D.D.). She wad keb at it, as the black ew did at the white ew’s lamb.
1893. Northumbld. Gloss., Keb, to drop a dead lamb.
Hence Kebbed ppl. a.
1824. Blackw. Mag., XV. 181. A kebbed ewe is one whose lamb dies.
1893. Northumbld. Gloss., s.v., When a lamb dies in birth it is called a kebbed lamb and the mother a kebbed yow.
