Link Centre Dictionary

sheathe

UK/ʃiːð/ US/ʃið/ uncommon dated literary obsolete rare

verb

1.

cover with a protective sheathing

  • “sheathe her face”
2.

enclose with a sheath

  • “sheathe a sword”
Antonyms
3.

plunge or bury (a knife or sword) in flesh

Origin

From Late Middle English shethen (“to put (a sword or knife) into a sheath, sheathe; to provide with a sheath; (figuratively) to have sexual intercourse”) [and other forms], then: * probably from Old English *scēaþian; or * possibly from Middle English sheth, shethe (“holder for a sword, knife, etc., scabbard, sheath”) [and other forms] + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). Sheth(e) is derived 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).

Phrases

  • sheathe the sword
  • sheathed cable

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.