local. Also 6 kebbe, 9 kebb. [Etymology uncertain; cf. G. kibbe, kippe, ewe.] A ewe that has lost her lamb, or whose lamb is still-born. Also keb-ewe.

1

1470–3.  in Rec. Andover, 20. Recd pro viij ovibus ecclie vocat[is] Kebbys viijs.

2

1549.  Compl. Scot., vi. 66. Baytht ȝouis and lammis, kebbis and dailis.

3

1581.  J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 431 b. Full of sicknesse, and like an olde kebbe full of wrinckles.

4

1822.  W. J. Napier, Pract. Store-farming, 60. Of lambs, the superabundance of twins has far exceeded the loss by kebbs, and blasts of hail and sleet.

5

1824.  Gallovid. Encycl., Keb-Ewes.

6

  b.  Comb., as keb-house (see quot.).

7

1886.  C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 118. Such a shed … is termed a keb-house,—a ‘keb’ being a ewe that has lost her lamb, and the house the place where she may be confined while being made to adopt another.

8