sheepfold

Inherited from Middle English shepefald, perhaps from Late Old English sċēapa falde (literally “sheep's fold”), equivalent to sheep +‎ fold.^[1]

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈʃiːp.fəʊld/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːpfəʊld

sheepfold (plural sheepfolds)

1. An enclosure for keeping sheep.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 180:

     If civilized life had covered over the ancient verities, Dumuzi learns in his tragic death that the sheepfold is still there to reclaim him.

2. A flock of sheep.
   • 2025 November 19, Vivian Ren (pseudonym), “The Weeping Believer: A Report from a Chinese Christian”, in Bitter Winter‎^[1]:

     We weep because the Lord’s sheepfold is guarded by wolves; we despair because truth gasps for breath amid lies.