sheath
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (3)
- a protective covering (as for a knife or sword)Type of protective covering, protective coverKinds holster, fingerstall, scabbard, aglet
- an enveloping structure or covering enclosing an animal or plant organ or partSynonyms: caseType of covering, natural coveringKinds medullary sheath, lorica, theca, neurolemma, husk
- a dress suitable for formal occasionsSynonyms: cocktail dressType of dress, frock
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. schethe, AS. scǣð, sceáð, scēð; akin to OS. skēðia, D. scheede, G. scheide, OHG. sceida, Sw. skida, Dan. skede, Icel. skeiðir, pl., and to E. shed, v.t., originally meaning, to separate, to part. See Shed.
1. A case for the reception of a sword, hunting knife, or other long and slender instrument; a scabbard.
The dead knight's sword out of his sheath he drew.— Edmund Spenser
2. Any sheathlike covering, organ, or part. Specifically: (a) Botany The base of a leaf when sheathing or investing a stem or branch, as in grasses. (b) Zoology One of the elytra of an insect.
Medullary sheath. Anatomy See under Medullary. — Primitive sheath. Anatomy See Neurilemma. — Sheath knife, a knife with a fixed blade, carried in a sheath. — Sheath of Schwann. Anatomy See Schwann's sheath.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54