# sheath
## English
### Etymology 1

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.

#### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: shēth, IPA: /ʃiːθ/
* (General American) IPA: /ʃiθ/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːθ

#### Noun

sheath (plural sheaths)
* A holster for a sword; a scabbard.
* (by extension) Anything that has a similar shape to a scabbard that is used to hold an object that is longer than it is wide.
    Synonyms: case, casing, cover, covering, envelope
* (botany) The base of a leaf when sheathing or investing a branch or stem, as in grasses.
* (electrical engineering) The insulating outer cover of an electrical cable.
* (entomology) One of the elytra of an insect.
* (fashion) A tight-fitting dress.
* (zoology) The foreskin of certain animals (for example, dogs and horses).
* (British, informal) A condom.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:condom

##### Derived terms

* femoral sheath
* leaf sheath
* medullary sheath
* myelin sheath
* penile sheath
* penis sheath
* Schwann's sheath
* sheath cake
* sheath dress
* sheath knife
* sheathless
* sheathlike
* sheath-tail bat
* sheath-tailed bat
* sheath-tailed mouse
* sheathy

##### Related terms

* sheathe
* heliosheath
* resheath, resheathe
* unsheath, unsheathe

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

A variant of sheathe.

#### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: shēth, IPA: /ʃiːð/
* (General American) IPA: /ʃið/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːð

#### Verb

sheath (third-person singular simple present sheaths, present participle sheathing, simple past and past participle sheathed)
* Alternative spelling of sheathe
    Antonym: unsheath
** c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v], page 171, column 1:Nay, neuer beare me hence, diſpatch me heere: / Here ſheath thy Sword, Ile pardon thee my death: [...]
** 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 125, column 1:Sheath your Dagger: / Be angry when you will, it ſhall haue ſcope: [...]
** 1687,, “The Third Part”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 88:So when the gen'rous Lyon has in ſight / His equal match, he rouſes for the fight; / But when his foe lyes proſtrate on the plain, / He ſheaths his paws, uncurls his angry mane; / And, plea'd with bloudleſs honours of the day, / Walks over, and diſdains th' inglorious Prey, [...]
** [1716], [John] Gay, “Book III. Of Walking the Streets by Night.”, in Trivia: Or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London, London: […] Bernard Lintott, […], →OCLC, page 53:At Sight of thee, the Villain ſheaths his Sword, / Nor ſcales the Wall, to ſteal the wealthy Hoard.
** 1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull:And the poet lifts his pen While the soldier sheaths his sword.

##### Derived terms

* ensheath, insheath
* resheath
* unsheath

### References

* ↑ “shēth(e, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007; “sheath, n.$^1$”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1914; “sheath, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

### Further reading

* sheath on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “sheath”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “sheath”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* heaths