sheaf









sheaf


noun, plural sheaves.

  1. one of the bundles in which cereal plants, as wheat, rye, etc., are bound after reaping.
  2. any bundle, cluster, or collection: a sheaf of papers.

verb (used with object)

  1. to bind (something) into a sheaf or sheaves.

noun plural sheaves (ʃiːvz)

  1. a bundle of reaped but unthreshed corn tied with one or two bonds
  2. a bundle of objects tied together
  3. the arrows contained in a quiver

verb

  1. (tr) to bind or tie into a sheaf

n.Old English sceaf (plural sceafas) “large bundle of corn,” from Proto-Germanic *skauf- (cf. Old Saxon scof, Middle Dutch scoof, Dutch schoof, Old High German scoub “sheaf, bundle,” German Schaub “sheaf;” Old Norse skauf “fox’s tail;” Gothic skuft “hair on the head,” German Schopf “tuft”), from PIE root *(s)keup- “cluster, tuft, hair of the head.” Extended to bundles of things other than grain by c.1300. Also used in Middle English for “two dozen arrows.” General sense of “a collection” is from 1728.

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