sheaf
/ʃiːf/
sheaf noun: a quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw.
Noun
sheaf (plural sheaves or sheafs)
- A quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw.
- O, let me teach you how to knit again
This scattered corn into one mutual sheaf,
These broken limbs again into one body.c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac... - And then in haste her bow'r she leaves,
With Thestylis to bind the sheaves;
Or if the earlier season lead
To the tann'd haycock in the mead.1645, John Milton, L'Allegro
- Synonyms:
- reap, wheatsheaf
- O, let me teach you how to knit again
- Any collection of things bound together.
- a sheaf of paper
- Bond reflected on the problem as he collected the sheaf of hundred thousand and then the sheaves of ten thousand franc notes.1953, Ian Fleming, “The Secret Agent”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 8
- Synonyms:
- bundle
- A bundle of arrows sufficient to fill a quiver, or the allowance of each archer.
- The sheaf of arrows shook, and rattled in the case.1700, John Dryden, Palamon and Arcite
- A quantity of arrows, usually twenty-four.
- Arrows were anciently made of reeds, afterwards of cornel wood, and occasionally of every species of wood: but according to Roger Ascham, ash was best; arrows were reckoned by sheaves, a sheaf consisted of twenty-four arrows.1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 34
- A sheave.
- If two sections over U agree under restriction to every U_i, then the sections are the same.
- Given a family of sections s_i∈ℱ(U_i) such that all pairs (s_i,s_j) agree under restriction to U_i∩U_j, there is a (unique) section s over U whose restriction to U_i is s_i.
Verb
sheaf (third-person singular simple present sheafs, present participle sheafing, simple past and past participle sheafed)
- To gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves
- to sheaf wheat
- To collect and bind cut grain, or the like; to make sheaves.
- They that reap must sheaf and bind; Then to cart with Rosalind.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
sheaf meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
sheaf in Hindi
- sheaf
- गद्दी gaddī
sheaf in Tamil
- கட்டு, கத்தை, கற்றை
sheaf in Marathi
- bundle of grain or straw
- पेंढी peṇḍhī, पेंडी peṇḍī, भारा bhārā
- any collection of things bound together; a bundle
- भारा bhārā
sheaf in Urdu
- گڈی
More languagesFewer languages
- sheaf in Malayalam
- മുടി muṭi
- sheaf in Kannada
- ಕಂತೆ, ಕಟ್ಟು
- sheaf in Odia
- ଗୋଛା gochā, ପ୍ରସ୍ତର prastara
- sheaf in Sanskrit
- पर्ष parṣá
- sheaf in Assamese
- মুঠি muthi
- sheaf in Arabic
- حُزْمَة ḥuzma
- sheaf in Persian
- بسک bask, بافه bāfe
Examples of sheaf in a sentence
- Ev’n while the Reaper fills his greedy hands, / And binds the golden Sheafs in brittle bands1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and...
- Max found himself accepting an impressive sheaf of money, more than he had ever touched before, and the books were taken from him before he could think of another objection.1953, Robert A. Heinlein, Starman Jones, page 45:
- Together the two men march up the aisle and mount the dais, and while Muspole shakes hands with the chairman and his lady, the major draws a sheaf of notes from a briefcase and lays them on the table.1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:
Synonyms of sheaf
Forms of sheaf
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | sheaves |
| plural | sheafs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | sheafs |
| present participle | sheafing |
| past participle | sheafed |
| past | sheafed |
Origin of sheaf
From Middle English scheef, from Old English sċēaf, from Proto-West Germanic *skaub, from Proto-Germanic *skauba- (“sheaf”). Cognates Akin to West Frisian skeaf (“sheaf”), Dutch schoof (“sheaf”), German Schaub, Old Norse skauf (“a fox's tail”). Compare further Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐍆𐍄 (skuft, “hair of the head”), German Schopf (“tuft”).
Words formed from sheaf
Phrases with sheaf
Words that rhyme with sheaf
Questions about sheaf
- What does sheaf mean?
- Sheaf means a quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw.
- What is sheaf in Hindi?
- Sheaf in Hindi is गद्दी (gaddī). See Sheaf meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use sheaf in a sentence?
- Ev’n while the Reaper fills his greedy hands, / And binds the golden Sheafs in brittle bands
- What part of speech is sheaf?
- Sheaf can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce sheaf?
- Sheaf is pronounced /ʃiːf/.
- What is the plural of sheaf?
- The plural of sheaf is sheaves.
Words near sheaf in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sheaf (page history and authors); गद्दी (Hindi) (page history and authors); sheaf (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sheaf (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); മുടി (Malayalam) (page history and authors); sheaf (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ଗୋଛା (Odia) (page history and authors); पर्ष (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); মুঠি (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-sheaf.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sheaf.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sheaf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.