muttonhood en · NOUN
Etymology
From mutton + -hood.
Meanings
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(uncountable) The state or period of being an adult sheep.
[…] when they grew up to adolescent muttonhood, it required all the prowess and interference of the papa sheep to prevent them from breaking each other's skulls by their constant tiltings and buttings.
1841, Joseph Hewlett, Theodore Edward Hook, The Parish Clerk, volume 1, page 59:[…] everything, it seemed, was lamb because lambs presumably did not have the chance to reach muttonhood.
2012, Alexander McCall Smith, Sunshine on Scotland Street: