sheepfold
nounUK /ˈʃiːp.fəʊld/
Etymology Inherited from Middle English shepefald, perhaps from Late Old English sċēapa falde (literally “sheep's fold”), equivalent to sheep + fold.
1
An enclosure for keeping sheep.
- If civilized life had covered over the ancient verities, Dumuzi learns in his tragic death that the sheepfold is still there to reclaim him.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 180:
2
A flock of sheep.
- We weep because the Lord’s sheepfold is guarded by wolves; we despair because truth gasps for breath amid lies.2025 November 19, Vivian Ren (pseudonym), “The Weeping Believer: A Report from a Chinese Christian”, in Bitter Winter: