| 释义 |
▪ I. sheath1|ʃiːθ|
Forms: α. 1 sceǽð, scéað, 1–3 scǽð, 2–3 scaþ, 3 shæþ, seaþ, sseþe, 3, (5) seth, 4–6 s(c)hethe, 4–7, (8–9 dial.) sheth, 5 scheth, (seeth), 5–6 sheethe, Sc. scheith, 6 scheethe, sheeth, 6–7 sheathe, (7 ? mispr. skeath, 8 shearth), 6– sheath. β. 4–5 schede, 5 shede, 5–6 schete.
[OE. scǽþ, scéaþ str. fem. = OS. skêđia, MDu. schêde (mod.Du. scheede, schee), OHG. sceida (MHG., mod.G. scheide), ON. skeiðir pl., scabbard (Da. skede):—OTeut. *skaiþjō.
The word app. belongs to the Teut. root skaiþ-, skaiđ-, to separate, divide (see shed v.). The primary notion may have been that of a stick split to receive the blade: cf. the ablaut-variant MSw. skiþa, mod.Sw. skida a sheath, which appears to be the same word as ON. skíða a billet of wood, faggot (see shide n.). The ON. skauðir pl., ‘sheath’ of a horse (see 2 a below) is commonly regarded as cognate, although belonging to a different vowel-series; probably, however, the resemblance in form and sense with the present word is accidental.]
1. a. A case or covering into which a blade is thrust when not in use; usually close-fitting and conforming to the shape of the blade, esp. of a sword, dagger, knife, etc. Cf. scabbard.
αc950Lindisf. Gosp. John xviii. 11 Send suord in sceæð..mitte gladium in uaginam. a1000Cædmon's Gen. 1992 Handum bruᵹdon hæleð of scæðum hringmæled sweord. c1000ælfric Hom. I. 482 He awende his swurd into ðære sceaðe. c1200Ormin 14675 Abraham..droh hiss swerd off shæþe. c1205Lay. 23211 Luken vt of scaþe [c 1275 seaþe] sweordes longe. c1375Cursor M. 15795 (Fairf.) Þat dint now gif þou nane In-to þe sheþe [c 1425 Trin. sheeþe, earlier texts forel] þou putt þi squorde. c1450Mirk's Festial 259 Wypyng his blody swerde, and put hit vp ynto his scheþe. c1470Gol. & Gaw. 706 Schort suerdis of scheith smertly thay dreuch. 1530Palsgr. 266/2 Sheth of a meate knyfe, gayne. 1555Eden Decades 224 He had a longe dager with a hafte of golde, and the shethe of a fayre kynde of carued woodde. 1605Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 169 A new sheth for my Mr daggar. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag., Penalties & Forf. 2 Blades, Handles, Scabbards, Sheaths for Knives. 1715Pope Iliad iii. 125 Your shining Swords within the Sheath restrain. 1800Med. Jrnl. III. 195 The lever and cutting blade separated from the handle and sheath. 1809Roland Fencing 11 Before drawing the sword from the sheath. 1865Lubbock Prehist. Times 29 A bronze sword in a wooden sheath.
βc1385Chaucer L.G.W. 888 (MS. Gg.) Tysbe..saw hire wympil & hise emty schede And ek his swerd that hym hath don to dede. c1425Seven Sages (Percy Soc.) 2584 And drew a knyf out of hire schete. c1440Promp. Parv. 444/2 Schede, or schethe, vagina. 14..Songs & Carols 15th C. (Warton Club) lxi, Myn baselard haȝt a schede of red, And a clene loket of led. c1500Melusine lix. 359 He putte his swerd vp in the shede. 1518Ortus Vocab., Vagina, a shete [1500 a shethe].
b. transf. and fig.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2864 Were he mowe þe luþer vortiger witie fram þe deþe Þat ich in is Ineward mid suerd make a sseþe. c1393Chaucer Scogan 39 Ne þynke I neuere of slep to wake myn muse Þat rustyþ in myn schede [Fairf. & Pepys shethe] stylle in pes. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. iii. 170 (Qo. 1599) O happy dagger This is thy sheath, there rust and let me dye. 1615Hieron Three Serm. Necess. Advts. 14 Some one who is a meere hypocrite, and but as it were the sheath and shadow of a Christian. 1821Scott Kenilw. viii, Women.. are occasion for many a blade's exchanging a sheath of neat's leather for one of flesh and blood. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Fate Wks. (Bohn) II. 323 Liberation of the will from the sheaths and clogs of organization..is the end and aim of this world.
†c. by my sheath, a petty oath. Obs.
a1530Heywood Love 1370 (Brandl), The hole faute in fortune by my sheth. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 595/2 Yes by my shethe.
†d. painted sheath: showy exterior. Obs.[Cf. Fr. ‘Dans vne gaine d'or vn cousteau de plomb: Prov. A leaden sword in a golden sheath; a godlesse heart in a goodly bodie’ (Cotgr.).] 1542Becon Pathw. Prayer li. S iv, Let vs not flatter oure selues nor make to much of our painted shethe, as they saye. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 22 She maie not beare a fether, but she must breath, She maketh so much of hir peynted sheath. 1576Gascoigne Steel Glas Wks. 1910 II. 156 One Which stands so much, upon his paynted sheath..That he accompts, no Soldiour but himselfe. 1613Hieron Abridg. Gosp. ii. iii. Wks. 1614 I. 159 Thou pridest thy selfe..in thy painted sheath and gay clothing.
2. A sheath-like covering. Applied to various animal and vegetable structures.
a. The tubular fold of skin into which the penis is retracted, in many animals, as the horse, bull, dog, etc. Also † = prepuce.
1555Eden Decades i. viii. 38 The men of this countrey inclose theyr priuie members in a gourde... In other places of that tract, they thrust the synew within the sheethe therof [orig. intra vaginam mentularem neruum reducunt]. 1607Markham Caval. i. 70 If, after your foales bee gelt, their cods and sheathes happen to swell exceeding much. c1720W. Gibson Farrier's Guide i. ii. (1738) 15 Its outer cover, or Sheath, is nothing else but a production of the Scarfskin Hide and fleshy Pannicle. c1800J. Cundall Sch. Arts 34 The Cure. First throw him [the bull], and draw his pizzle out of his sheath.
b. Bot. A tubular or enrolled part or organ of a plant; the part of an expanded organ that is rolled round a stem or other body, as the spathe of a flower, the lower part of the leaves of grasses, etc.
1671Grew Anat. Pl. i. i. (1682) 10 The Plume in Corn is trussed up within a membranous Sheath. 1720P. Blair Bot. Ess. i. 28 Sometimes they are covered with a Vagina or Sheath at the top, which appears blackish in the middle of the Flourish, until it is fully blown, and then the Sheath falls off, and the two Portions separate. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 81 Sheath (spatha), a species of Calyx, exemplified in the Crocus, the Iris, and the Daffodil. 1832Lindley Introd. Bot. i. ii. 95 Occasionally the petiole embraces the branch from which it springs, and in such case is said to be sheathing; and is even called a sheath, or vagina, as in grasses. 1847Tennyson Princess v. 28, I was..More crumpled than a poppy from the sheath. 1847S. Lee Afr. Wand. vii. (1854) 100 He found a large spatha, or sheath, full of cocoa-nuts. 1855Longfellow Hiaw. xiii. 180 The maize-ears full and shining gleamed from bursting sheaths of verdure. 1861Bentley Man. Bot. 174 This sheath in all true Grasses terminates above in a membranous appendage. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. xx. II. 11 The cheap clothing that moulding itself on her feet seemed an adornment as choice as the sheaths of buds. 1882–4Cooke Brit. Fresh-w. Algæ I. 220 Cells forming a filament (Trichome) usually included in a tubular homogenous or lamellate sheath (vagina).
c. Bot. ‘A limiting layer of surrounding cellular tissue’ (B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms, 1900). Also ‘the lower, longer portion of the cell-wall in division in Oedogonium’ (Ibid. Add.). bundle-sheath: see bundle n. 4.
1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 6 When a layer (simple or compound) surrounds a tissue, which differs from it, it is termed relatively to the latter a sheath. 1897tr. Strasburger's Text-bk. Bot. (1903) 203 The glucose which is thus produced in the leaves passes out of the mesophyll cells into the elongated cells of the vascular bundle-sheaths. The glucose and maltose are transferred in these conducting sheaths through the leaf-stalks into the stem.
d. Anat. The connective tissue covering which closely invests a part or elongated organ, and binds it together and holds it in place. Cf. fascia 3.
1805J. F. D. Jones Treat. Suppress. Hemorrhage (1810) 54 A coagulum then, formed at the mouth of the artery, and within its sheath. 1843R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxx. 404 There was..no inflammation of it's [i.e. the spinal cord's] membranes or effusion into its sheath. 1872Huxley Physiol. i. 10 The sheath is continued at each end into a tendon. 1873J. Angell Elem. Anim. Physiol. v. 70 Each primitive fibre is invested with a delicate sheath of fine, tough, elastic, transparent, structureless membrane, termed the sarcolemma or myolemma. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 819 The outermost of the three layers [of the intussuscepted bowel] is known as the intussuscipient, the sheath, or the receiving layer.
e. A tube-like case, covering, or protection, e.g. a hair-follicle, the covering of the sting, etc. of an insect.
1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. VIII. 68 The sheath sometimes sticks so fast in the wound, that the animal is obliged to leave it behind; by which the bee soon after dies. 1801tr. Haller's First Lines Physiol. 205 The hair, with both its cylindrical sheaths, arrives at a cutaneous pore, goes out through it, and forces the epidermis into a similar sheath. 1820Shelley Witch of Atlas xv, And there lay Visions..Each in its thin sheath, like a chrysalis. 1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 320 Sheath of the sucker [in Membranaceæ] with only two or three apparent joints. 1834McMurtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 399 The sheath of this apparatus [the ‘sucker’ of Hemipterous insects] is at these times frequently bent into an angle. 1885Haldane Workshop Rec. Ser. ii. 369 The softening or destruction of the hair-sheaths either by lime or by putrefaction.
f. The covering of certain shell-fish, e.g. the razor-shell.
1815S. Brookes Conchol. 156 Sheath. Solen Vagina and Siliqua. 1822J. Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 174 Bivalve shells, contained in a tubular sheath distinct from the valves. 1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 114 Sheath tapering,..the valves of the shell elongated.
g. The lorica of certain protozoans, etc.
1841T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. 34 The Tubiporidæ are enclosed in a calcareous or coriaceous sheath or tube. 1859J. R. Greene Man. Anim. Kingd., Protozoa vii. 61, Fig. 14 showing animal [Vaginicola valvata] contracted within its sheath. 1878F. Bell Gegenbaur's Comp. Anat. 121 Where the proliferating Polyps are provided with a sheath, the generative buds are always enclosed by the same test as the Polyps themselves.
h. ‘The horny covering of the bill or feet of a bird; esp. a sort of false cere of some birds, as the sheathbills, jägers, etc.’ (Cent. Dict. 1891).
1781Pennant Genera of Birds 43 Upper of the upper mandible lodged in a corneous sheath. 1886Newton in Encycl. Brit. XXI. 782/1 note, A strange fallacy arose early..that this case or sheath [of the sheathbill] was movable.
i. The elytron or outer hard wing-case of a coleopterous insect.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 368 There are some beetles that have neither wings nor sheath. 1854Eng. Cycl., Nat. Hist. II. 62/2 From this character of having the wings in a sheath, the term Coleoptera was applied... The superior wings, which form the sheath, are generally called elytra. 1910D. W. Thompson tr. Aristotle's Hist. Anim. I. 5 Some are coleopterous or sheath-winged, for they have their wings in a sheath or shard.
j. The fold of skin into which the claws of a feline animal are retracted.
1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. III. 200 The cat kind are..remarkable for the sharpness..of their claws, which thrust forth from their sheath when they seize their prey.
k. A contraceptive made of thin rubber worn on the penis; a condom.
1861G. Drysdale Elem. Soc. Science (ed. 4) ii. 349 The accessory and sensational part of the venereal act is obtained..by the use of the sheath (which is..very frequent, but more so on the continent than in this country). 1897Science of Generation xx. 235 The use of various mechanical contrivances, such as French Safes, Condom Sheaths, etc. 1919M. C. Stopes Let. to Working Mothers 14 Some men like to use a sheath, and this is quite a safe method. 1962Lancet 2 June 1194/1 The survey shows that the sheath and coitus interruptus are still the methods most commonly used for contraception in this country. 1977E. J. Trimmer et al. Visual Dict. Sex (1978) xiv. 134 Careful attention must be taken in the rolling on of the sheath so as not to damage it.
l. A long close-fitting dress or skirt, usu. with a slit or pleat on one side. Cf. sheath dress, gown, etc., sense 7 a.
1904H. O. Sturgis Belchamber xx. 273 A sinuous young lady, clad in a sheath of some glittering, shimmering blackness. 1932in C. W. Cunnington Eng. Women's Clothes in Present Cent. (1952) vii. 222 The moulded sheath glorifies the body beautifully. 1958Observer 20 July 9/5 Dresses for day and evening are cut as figure-gripping sheaths to which are added built-out and stiffened hip-pockets of a vast size. 1976G. Moffat Over Sea to Death ii. 24 She wore a bright green jersey sheath which emphasised her sharp angles.
3. a. Photogr. (See quots.)
1890Woodbury Encycl. Photogr. 630 Sheath, an arrangement for holding the dry plate in detective cameras so that they are protected from the light and can be conveniently changed at will. They are usually made of darkened metal. 1892Photogr. Ann. II. 316 The lens and finders are uncovered by sliding sheaths or covers of the same leather.
b. Electronics. The anode of a thermionic valve. (Disused.)
1919R. D. Bangay Oscillation Valve 57 It [sc. the Fleming Valve] consists of a metal or carbon filament (F) and a metal cylinder (S) (usually called the sheath) surrounding the filament..the sheath [thus forming] the anode of the valve. 1922Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics II. 880/2 A battery..has its positive terminal connected to the sheath.., and its negative one to the filament.
c. Physics. A region of charged particles or plasma surrounding an object.
1923Science 12 Oct. 290/1 Around each negative electrode there is thus a sheath of definite thickness containing only positive ions and neutral atoms. 1955A. von Engel Ionized Gases viii. 194 The anode is therefore covered with a luminous sheath—the anode glow which is sometimes divided into several luminous spots. 1973Krall & Trivelpiece Princ. Plasma Physics i. 46 If the potential of the probe is much larger than the local potential of the plasma, the probe attracts electrons and repels ions, forming a sheath region around the probe, which is electron-rich.
†4. The razor-fish or solen. [Cf. 2 f.] Obs.
1722Diaper tr. Oppian's Halieut. i. 482 Here slender Sheaths, and juicy Oysters hide.
5. Sc. and dial. = knitting-sheath.
1893Longman's Mag. Feb. 378 Their straw sheaths tucked into the bands of their tousers [aprons], they clicked merrily away with their needles as they walked along the road.
6. A structure or banking of loose stones to prevent the overflow of a river.
1850in Ogilvie, and in later Dicts.
7. attrib. and Comb.
a. Simple attrib. often passing into adj. (applied to dress), as sheath dress, sheath gown, sheath model, sheath skirt, etc.; also sheath-like, sheath-maker; sheath-knife, a dagger-like knife encased in a sheath; sheath-piling = sheet-piling (sheet n.1 12 b).
1925in C. W. Cunnington Eng. Women's Clothes in Present Cent. (1952) vi. 184 The beltless *sheath dress. 1945N. L. McClung Stream runs Fast xv. 132 She was a sweet-faced little violet of a woman, in a sheath dress of silver cloth. 1980‘M. Hebden’ Pel under Pressure xiii. 129 She had one of those sheath dresses on. Fitted like a skin.
1908Westm. Gaz. 12 May 5/1 They were what are called *sheath gowns or skirts à fourreau.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. iv. i, She purchases a large *sheath-knife in the Palais Royal. 1897Kipling Capt. Cour. viii. 165 The leather belt with the sheath-knife at the back.
1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 15 Flowers with *sheath-like bracts. 1899Outlook 7 Jan. 725/2 The skirts cut in a sheath-like scantiness.
1530Palsgr. 266/2 *Sheth maker, gaignier. 1766Entick London IV. 357 The third sort were sheath-makers for swords.
1902Encycl. Brit. XXVI. 437/2 This can be accomplished..by careful *sheath-piling to retain the sides of the excavation.
1903Daily Chron. 24 Jan. 8/4 *Sheath-skirts..will still enjoy popularity.
b. Nat. Hist., as sheath-edge, sheath-leaf; sheath bill, a sea-bird of the genus Chionis, having the basal part of the bill ensheathed in a horny case; sheath cell Anat., a Schwann cell (Schwann b); sheathclaw, a lizard of the genus Thecodactylus; sheath-horned a., having hollow horns enclosing a horn-core; sheath (razor-) shell, the razor-shell; † sheath-scale Bot. (see quot.); † sheath-stone (see quot.); † sheath-wing = 2 i; sheath-winged, having the wings encased in elytra, coleopterous, vaginipennate. See also sheat-fish.
1781Pennant Genera of Birds 43 *Sheath-bill. 1854A. Adams, etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 47 Sheathbills (Chionidæ). 1902Edin. Rev. Jan. 208 A mother penguin cannot leave her egg for a moment but what a sheath-bill, Chionis, dashes its beak into it.
1906*Sheath cell [see Schwann b]. 1967D. Bodian in G. C. Quarton et al. Neurosciences 13/1 Axons that are enclosed by a single fold of a sheath cell are referred to as unmyelinated axons.
1850P. H. Gosse Nat. Hist., Reptiles 90 The Smooth *Sheath-claw..is a native of Jamaica.
1870Hooker Stud. Flora 411 Carex Buxbaumii..*sheath-edges filamentous.
1871Darwin Desc. Man ii. xii. (1890) 357 A bull, goat, or other *sheath-horned ruminant.
1766Compl. Farmer s.v. Vegetation 7 S 2/2 Above there is a mark of the *sheath-leaf, which was pulled [off the stalk]. 1893Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. Dec. 821 The spirally twisted sheath-leaves are noticeable when the ear is beginning to form.
1819W. Turton Conchol. Dict. 159 Solen Vagina. *Sheath Razor-shell.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 81 *Sheath-scale, a membrane found at the top of the sheathes which surround the stem of Grasses, just where the sheath ends, and the proper leaf begins.
1712Mus. Thoresby. (1713) 444 The *Sheath-Shell, as it is commonly called, because of its Form. 1815Burrow Elem. Conchol. 194 Solen. Razor or Sheath Shell.
1681Grew Musæum iii. §i. i. 265 The *Sheath-Stone. Solenites. Like the petrify'd shell of the Sheath-Fish.
1882Vines tr. Sachs' Bot. 199 A circular projection..on which the *sheath-teeth are formed.
1704Petiver Gazophyl. II. Tab. xvii, Its Shoulders are yellower than the *Sheath Wings.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xv. 141 All vaginipennous or *sheathwinged insects, as Beetles and Dorrs. 1910D. W. Thompson tr. Aristotle's Hist. Anim. I. 5 Some are coleopterous or sheath-winged.
▪ II. † sheath2 Obs.
Forms: α. 4 schethe, 6 sheth(e, 7 (? misprint) skeath, 7–8 sheath, 9 seath; β. 8 sheat, sheet.
[Prob. the same word as sheth. The specific sense below is in WFlem. scheeberd, scheidberd (berd = board). It is also one of the meanings of Norw. skeid; the form skeath, if not a misprint, is prob. Scandinavian.]
In ploughs of an old type, the bar connecting the beam and sole in front.
α1356–7Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 384 It. in 24 schethes et 24 moldebred cum jugis spakes, 3s. 6d. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §3 The sheldbrede is a brode pece of wodde, fast pinned to the ryghte syde of the shethe in the ferther ende. 1613Markham Eng. Husbandm. i. Former Pt. iii. B 2, The skeath..is a peece of woode of two foote and a halfe in length, and of eight inches in breadth, and two inches in thicknesse; it is driuen extreamly hard into the Plough-beame, slopewise. 1616Surflet & Markham Country Farm vii. xvi. 662 Of it [the Ash] also is made all manner of Plow and Cart-timber whatsoeuer, as Beames, Heads, Skeathes [etc.]. 1688Holme Armoury iii. 333/2 The Sheath [of a Plow] is that which holds the Beam and Throck together. 1765A. Dickson Treat. Agric. (ed. 2) 164 According to the position of the sheath, the earth of the furrow is turned over more suddenly. a1817W. Muir Poems (1818) 8 (Elegy on old plough), The very pettle, riest an' seath, Are pil'd up for a fiery death.
β1733Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. xxi. 301 The Plow-Tail consists of..the Share P., and the Sheat Q. 1766Compl. Farmer s.v. 6 T 1/2 The sheat, or as it is sometimes called the fore-sheat, there being another piece of timber behind it called the hinder sheat, should be..fastened to the beam by a retch. 1791J. Townsend Journ. Spain (1792) I. 229 An English mechanic will not readily conceive how a plough can be made..without any sheets to support the handle and the share.
▪ III. sheath
variant of seath Obs., brine-pit.
1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 609 (Cheshire) There be two wells of salt water... Sheathes they call them. c1682J. Collins Salt & Fishery 2 At Middlewich there are seven Pits or Bryne sheaths, which yield most rich Bryne. |