What is "sheep dip"

n. a liquid mixture containing pesticides in which sheep are dipped to kill parasites

Sheep dip is a liquid formulation of insecticide and fungicide which shepherds and farmers may use to protect their sheep from infestation against external parasites such as itch mite (Psorobia ovis), blow-fly, ticks and lice.

Sheep dip (computing) is a dedicated computer which is used to test files on removable media for viruses before they are allowed to be used with other computers.

Such machines are a normal first line of defence against viruses in high-security computing environments and IT security specialists are expected to be familiar with the concept.

They were originally deployed in response to the problem of boot sector viruses on floppy discs. Subsequently their scope has been expanded to include USB flash drives, portable hard discs, memory cards, CD-ROMs and other removable devices, all of which can potentially carry malware.

The name sheep dip is derived from a method of killing parasites in a flock of sheep by dipping all of the animals one after another in a trough of pesticide.

A sheep dip is a liquid formulation used to protect sheep from parasites.

Sheep dip may also refer to:

• Sheep dip (computing), the passing of files through a dedicated computer to test for computer virus
• It may also refer to American Central Intelligence Agency argot for a cover story originally connected to Project Oxcart.