sheep-biter

Meaning

Noun

• A sheepdog that worries (chases or attacks) sheep.
• A contemptible person, expecially one who practices petty thefts.

Origin

• sheep + biter. Figurative term possibly influenced by the fable "De cane oves domini sui occidente, a quo suspensus est" in Hecatomythium by Laurentius Abstemius (later included with Aesop's Fables as "A Sheep-Biter Hang'd" — see quotations).