Also South Down, South-down. [See def.]
1. One of a breed of sheep, noted for its short, fine wool and for the good quality of its mutton, originally reared on the South Downs of Sussex and Hampshire. Chiefly in pl.
1787. Young’s Ann. Agric., VIII. 199. The South Downs … are, for that point, the best short-woolled sheep which I know in England.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 99. The Leicester and Southdowns afford the best mutton-chops.
1883. Science, I. 314/1. An experiment with two mature sheep, a southdown and a merino.
2. This breed of sheep. Chiefly with the.
1827. Griffith, trans. Cuvier, IV. 340. The South Down have gray faces and legs, fine bones, long small necks.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 99. When the piece is large, as of Southdown or Cheviot.
1885. F. H. Bowman, Struct. Wool Fibre, 85. The Shropshire Speckle-faced Sheep is a cross breed between the original horned sheep and the Southdown.
3. ellipt. Mutton from this breed of sheep.
1859. Lever, Davenport Dunn, xxxvi. His curdiest salmon declined, his wonderful ‘south-down’ sent away scarcely tasted.
4. attrib., as Southdown breed, ewe, sheep, wether, wool.
(a) 1822. Cobbett, Pol. Reg., 11 May, 336. Offered 17 shillings instead of 37 shillings a-head for his South Down Ewes.
1841. Penny Cycl., XXI. 357/2. The average dead-weight of the South Down wether varies from 8 to 11 stones.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), II. p. xxvi. The hardiness of the Southdown breed.
1861. Times, 11 July. Mr. Jonas Webb’s celebrated flock of Southdown sheep was yesterday disposed of at auction.
(b) 1828. in Bischoff, Woollen Manuf., II. 106. The low-priced foreign wools do sell at about the same rate as South Down wool.
1885. F. H. Bowman, Struct. Wool Fibre, 251. A fair illustration of pure Southdown wool.
Hence South-downer.
1841. J. T. Hewlett, Parish Clerk, II. 226. I prefer a chop to any thing,… Particularly a real south-downer.
