/kar"euh keuhl/ , n. ( sometimes l.c. )
1. one of an Asian breed of sheep having curly fleece that is black in the young and brown or gray in the adult: raised esp. for lambskins used in the fur industry. Cf. broadtail, Persian lamb .
2. ( sometimes l.c. ) a Karakul lambskin.
Also, caracul .
[ 1850-55; after Kara Kul lake on the Pamir plateau, Tajikistan, near where the sheep were bred ]