sheikh

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sheikh

or sheik (shāk, shēk)

a. Islam A man respected for his piety or religious learning.

b. A male leader of an Arab family or village.

c. A man in an Arab society who is important or wealthy.

d. Used as a form of address for such a man.

2. sheik Slang A sexually alluring man.

[Arabic šayḫ, old man, chief, from šāḫa, to grow old; see śyḫ in Semitic roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sheikh

(ʃeɪk) or

sheik

(in Muslim countries) n

1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the head of an Arab tribe, village, etc

2. a venerable old man

3. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a high priest or religious leader, esp a Sufi master

4. (Islam) a high priest or religious leader, esp a Sufi master

[C16: from Arabic shaykh old man]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Noun

sheikh - the leader of an Arab village or family

Arab chief, sheik, tribal sheik, tribal sheikh

ruler, swayer - a person who rules or commands; "swayer of the universe"

Translations

Scheich

sceicco

sheikh

sheik, shaikh [ˈʃeɪk] n → cheik m

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References in classic literature ?

The Sheikhs on horseback--the lesser folk on clever donkeys--the children so despised by Farag soon understood that villages which repaired their waterwheels and channels stood highest in the Governor's favour.

Who remembers the kill in the market-place, when the Governor bade the assembled sheikhs and warriors observe how the hounds would instantly devour the body of Abu Hussein; but how, when he had scientifically broken it up, the weary pack turned from it in loathing, and Farag wept because he said the world's face had been blackened?

The older sheikhs, indeed, stood out for the unmeasurable beatings of the old days--the sharper the punishment, they argued, the surer the title; but here the hand of modern progress was against them, and they contented themselves with telling tales of Ben the first Governor, whom they called the Father of Waterwheels, and of that heroic age when men, horses, and hounds were worth following.

There tramped aboard sheikhs and villagers to the number of seventeen.

O sheikhs and men, have we ridden together and walked puppies together, and bought and sold barley for the horses that after these years we should run riot on the scent of a madman--an afflicted of God?"

"Talkin' of chances," said the Governor, "this Sheikh lies about his barley bein' a failure.

"That," said the Sheikh of the village, "is a fox, O Excellency Our Governor."

The Sheikh of the village spoke of the crops from which the rulers of all lands draw revenue; but the Governor's eyes were fixed, between his horse's ears, on the nearest water-channel.

"Moreover," the Sheikh added, "in the days of the Oppression the Emirs and their creatures dispossessed many people of their lands.

The Sheikh of this village here tells me that his barley has failed, and he wants a fifty per cent remission."

He will bring many witnesses," the village Sheikh muttered.

"Oh, Such an one; Son of such an one," said the Governor, prompted by the Sheikh, "learn, from the day when I send the order, to block up all the holes where Abu Hussein may hide on--thy--land!"