English Explanatory Dictionary

separate the sheep from the goats

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To divide the members of a group into those that are superior and those that are inferior.

Word forms

separate the sheep from the goats separates the sheep from the goats separating the sheep from the goats separated the sheep from the goats

Etymology

From the New Testament discourse of the Sheep and the Goats, particularly Matthew 25:32–33: “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.”

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