sheik

Noun

sheikh (plural sheikhs)

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.1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Numa ‘El Adrea’”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 120
2. 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.2013 January 8, Islamic Online University Insights, archived from the original on 25 Oct 2021, page 10
3. (some Arab Gulf countries) An official title for members of the royal family as well as some prominent families.
4. (archaic, slang) A romantic lover.
   • When your last natural tooth goes, the time when you can kid yourself that you're a Hollywood sheik, is definitely at an end.1939, George Orwell, Coming Up for Air, part 1, chapter 1
5. (slang) An Arab, especially one dressed in traditional clothing.
6. A member of one of the three hereditary, traditionally endogamous Yazidi castes, taking certain spiritual and leadership roles.

See all 9 meanings of sheikh