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Sheik
//ʃeɪk// noun, slang
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The leader of an Arab village, family or small tribe.
"Tarzan, who, by this time, with the assistance of Abdul, had picked up quite a smattering of Arab, questioned one of the younger men who had accompanied the sheik while the latter paid his respects to Captain Gerard."
- 2 a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance wordnet
- 3 An Islamic religious cleric; the master of a Sufi order.
"He then studied under a variety of scholars (shuyook) and institutes around the world in his quest for authentic knowledge."
- 4 the leader of an Arab village or family wordnet
- 5 An official title for members of the royal family as well as some prominent families.
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- 6 A romantic lover. archaic, slang
"When your last natural tooth goes, the time when you can kid yourself that you're a Hollywood sheik, is definitely at an end."
- 7 An Arab, especially one dressed in traditional clothing. slang
- 8 An honorific for specialists in spirituality, for example in Sufism.
Etymology
From Arabic شَيْخ (šayḵ, “elder”). Sense 4 (“a romantic lover”) is from the 1921 film The Sheik.
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