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one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb

one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb proverb: if one is going to commit a sin, it may as well be a major one as a minor one.

Proverb

one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb

  1. If one is going to commit a sin, it may as well be a major one as a minor one.

Origin of one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb

Referring to hanging as a former means of execution for one who had stolen an animal.

Questions about one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb

What does one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb mean?
One may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb means if one is going to commit a sin, it may as well be a major one as a minor one.
What part of speech is one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb?
One may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb is a proverb.

Words near one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb in the dictionary

  1. one man's fish is another man's poisson
  2. one man's loss is another man's gain
  3. one man's meat is another man's poison
  4. one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter
  5. one man's trash is another man's treasure
  6. one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb
  7. One Mile
  8. one million
  9. one minute man
  10. one minute men
  11. one moment

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb.oga.

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