sheath
nounUK /ʃiːθ/ · US /ʃiθ/
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.
8 senses
- 1A holster for a sword; a scabbard.
- 2Anything that has a similar shape to a scabbard that is…
- 3The base of a leaf when sheathing or investing a branch…
- 4The insulating outer cover of an electrical cable.
- 5One of the elytra of an insect.
- 6A tight-fitting dress.
- 7The foreskin of certain animals (for example, dogs and horses).
- 8A condom.
A holster for a sword; a scabbard.
Broadly Anything that has a similar shape to a scabbard that is used to hold an object that is longer than it is wide.
Business, Electrical, Electrical engineering, Electricity, Electromagnetism, Energy, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics The insulating outer cover of an electrical cable.
Biology, Entomology, Natural sciences One of the elytra of an insect.
Fashion, Lifestyle A tight-fitting dress.
- Derived terms
30 terms
astrosheath, desheath, exsheath, exsheathment, femoral sheath, leaf sheath, magnetosheath, medullary sheath, myelin sheath, penile sheath, penis sheath, presheath, rhizosheath, rice sheath mite, root sheath, Schwann's sheath, sheathbill, sheath cake, sheath dress, sheather, sheathfish, sheath knife, sheathless, sheathlike, sheathotomy, sheath-tail bat, sheath-tailed bat, sheath-tailed mouse, sheathy, sub- Related terms
- sheathe, heliosheath, resheath, resheathe, unsheath, unsheathe