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Ulysses vocabulary

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zoology

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wether: tags: [zoology]

► definition

Definition:

a castrated goat or sheep. Castration is performed on sheep because it helps to improve the quality of the wool.
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The term [bellwether] derives from the Middle English bellewether and refers to the practice of placing a bell around the neck of a castrated ram (a wether) leading the flock of sheep. A shepherd could then note the movements of the flock by hearing the bell, even when the flock was not in sight.

^{text from Wikipedia, licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike}
^{https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/}

^{painting: by Rosa Bonheur}
^{https://www.wikiart.org/en/rosa-bonheur/large-wooly-sheep-also-known-as-wether}

► uses

Uses:

And he had experience of the like brood beasts and of springers, greasy hoggets and wether wool, having been some years before actuary for Mr Joseph Cuffe, a worthy salesmaster that drove his trade for live stock and meadow auctions hard by Mr Gavin Low's yard in Prussia street.

James Joyce. Ulysses

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I am a tainted wether of the flock,

Meetest for death; the weakest kind of fruit

Drops earliest to the ground, and so let me.

William Shakespeare. The Merchant of Venice