A now-obsolete British nickname for a Cotswold sheep — specifically the large, long-woolled rams bred in the Cotswold Hills of England. The term is inherently comic, applying the regal title of 'lion' to a farm animal, and reflects the enormous cultural and economic importance of the Cotswold wool trade in medieval England, when Cotswold sheep were genuinely prized commodities. The ironic grandeur of the name captures how seriously wool was taken at the time, even as modern ears find the phrase charmingly absurd.
The landlord at the pub had an old print on the wall of a Cotswold lion, the shaggy ram that had made the region's fortune in the wool trade.
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(UK, obsolete) A male Cotswold sheep.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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