sheikh

plural sheikhs · alternative sheik · alternative shaykh

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 countriesAn official title for members of the royal family as well as some prominent families.
4. archaicslangA romantic lover.First known use 1920s

   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. slangAn 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.
7. An honorific for specialists in spirituality, for example in Sufism.

plural Sheikhs

1. The title of a sheikh.

   The Makaddam of Dhaboot, Sheikh Awadth, is a fine-looking old man, and seemed much gratified at the recognition by Government of his kindness to the sailors. Two of the headmen of Nishton, Sheikhs Muhammad and Moosa, who happened to be here, received their presents at the same time as Sheikh Awadth.

   1885, Report on the Administration of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency for 1884-85 (Selections from the Records of the Government of India, Foreign Department; No. CCVII), Calcutta: […] [T]he Superintendent of Government Printing, India, page 20

2. Alternative letter-case form of sheikh (Yazidi caste)

1. A surname from Arabic