sheath
UK /ʃiːθ/ · US /ʃiθ/ noun
Also a form of sheathe
Forms sheaths sheathing sheathed
- noun A holster for a sword; a scabbard.
- noun (by extension) Anything that has a similar shape to a scabbard that is used to hold an object that is longer than it is wide.
- noun (botany) The base of a leaf when sheathing or investing a branch or stem, as in grasses.
- noun (electrical engineering) The insulating outer cover of an electrical cable.
- noun (entomology) One of the elytra of an insect.
- noun (fashion) A tight-fitting dress.
- noun (zoology) The foreskin of certain animals (for example, dogs and horses).
- noun (UK, informal) A condom.
Synonyms
case casing cover covering envelope condom cum catcher rubber cocktail dress
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English sheth, shethe (“holder for a sword, knife, etc., scabbard, sheath”) [and other forms], from Old English sċēaþ (“sheath”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaiþiju, from Proto-Germanic *skaiþiz (“sheath; covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect, split”) (possibly from the notion of a split stick with a sword inserted).
The English word is cognate with Danish skede, Dutch schede, Icelandic skeið, German Scheide, Low German scheed, Norwegian skjede.
A variant of sheathe.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A case for the reception of a sword, hunting knife, or other long and slender instrument; a scabbard.
- noun Any sheathlike covering, organ, or part. Specifically: (a) (Bot.) The base of a leaf when sheathing or investing a stem or branch, as in grasses.
Etymology [OE. schethe, AS. scæedh, sceáedh, sceedh; akin to OS. skeedhia, D. scheede, G. scheide, OHG. sceida, Sw. skida, Dan. skede, Icel. skeiedhir, pl., and to E. shed, v.t., originally meaning, to separate, to part. See Shed.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sheath”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details