sheepskin

From sheep +‎ skin.

sheepskin (countable and uncountable, plural sheepskins)

1. (uncountable) The skin of a sheep, especially an adult sheep, and especially when used to make parchment or in bookbinding.

   Hypernyms: skin, hide; leather

   Coordinate terms: goatskin, kidskin

   Near-synonym: lambskin

   • 1891, Outing: Sport, Adventure, Travel, Fiction, volume 17, page 137:

     I confess to having felt a prejudice against sleeping in a bag, more especially a sheepskin bag, which would probably have a muttony odor; but it was pronounced to be the warmest and least cumbersome form of bedding we could have […]

   1. (countable or uncountable) The tanned skin of a sheep with the fleece left on, especially when used for clothing, rugs, etc.
2. (US, countable) A diploma, especially the one representing a university or college degree.
   • 1919, Henry Blake Fuller, chapter 32, in Bertram Cope’s Year‎^[1], Chicago: R.F. Seymour, page 302:

     […] he took his sheepskin with a bow and a gesture that extinguished several of his companions;

• sheepskin effect

• OED