| 释义 |
▪ I. sheet, n.1|ʃiːt|
Forms: α. 1 scíete, scéte, scýte, scíte, (3 sciet, sced, ssete, 4 schet), 3–6 schete, 4–5 scheete, 4–6 shete, (5 sshete, chete, schet(t, chitte, 6 sheate, shett(e, schett, north. scheit, sheyt(t, shite), 5–8 north. sheit, 6–7 sheete, 6–8 north. sheitt, 7 sheett, 7–9 dial. shit, 6– sheet.
[OE. scíete wk. fem., Anglian scéte, later scýte:—prehistoric *skautjōn-, f. root *skaut-(: skeut: skut-: see shoot v., shot n.1), of which one of the senses was to project.
To the root skaut- belong the foll. forms: (1) of the strong declension, OE. scéat masc. (which may be partly the source of the mod.Eng. sheet) corner, quarter, region, lap, bosom, bay, skirt, cloth, OFris. skât, schât skirt, lappet (NFris. skuat, skut, etc. lap, sail-rope), MLG. schôt, (M)Du. schoot masc. and fem., lap, sail-rope, OHG. (masc., fem., and neut.) scôȥ (MHG. schôȥ, G. schoss) skirt, lappet, lap, ON. skaut neut., corner of cloth, quarter (of earth, heaven), skirt, bosom, sail-rope (MSw. sköt lower corner of a sail, fold in clothing, bosom, lap, Da. skjød lap, skirt), Goth. skaut-s masc. or skaut neut. κράσπεδον, hem of a garment; (2) of the weak declension, OE. scéata masc. (see sheet n.2), OHG. scôȥa (MHG. schôȥe) fem., (M)LG. schôte sail-rope, ON. skaute masc., kerchief (Sw. sköte bosom, lap, Da. skjøde sail-rope).]
1.
†a. A napkin, cloth, or towel. Obs.
b. A broad piece of linen or cotton stuff, canvas, or the like, for covering, swathing, protecting from injury, etc. (Now felt as a transf. use of 3.) Obs.
Also with qualifying word, as dusting-sheet, winnowing-sheet.
c725Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) S 57 Sandalium, scete, loða. c900tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. vii. (1890) 180 Heo..hire feax ᵹerædde, & heo mid scytan [v.r. scitan] bisweop. c1000Ags. Gosp. Mark xiv. 51 Sum iungling him fyliᵹde mid anre scytan bewæfed nacod & hi namon hine. a1100Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 427/42 In sabanis, on scetum. c1250Moral Ode 367 (Egerton MS.) Ne scal þer beo sced [v. rr. sciet, scete] ne scrud. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8962 Þis gode mold..gurde aboute hire middel a uair linne ssete & wess þe meseles vet. 1375Barbour Bruce xiii. 236 Schetis that war sum-deill braid Thai festnyt in steid of baneris Apon lang treis. c1386Chaucer Sec. Nun's T. 536 The cristen folk..With sheetes han the blood ful faire yhent. a1400Leg. Rood (1871) 216 Oure lady her hede sche schette in a schete. 1434E.E. Wills (1882) 96, Y bequethe a shete to the..Chirche, to be peynted at the persons coste.., forto hange to-fore ij auteres. c1450Mirk's Festial 219 [He] syȝ an angyl wyth a whyt schete of selke wepe þe sydys of Saynt Laurens. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §122 Set a stole..nygh vnto the swarme & lay a clene wasshen shete vpon the stole. 15..Wowing of Jok & Jynny 26 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 388 Ane blanket, and ane wecht also, Ane schule, ane scheit, and ane lang flail. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. 40 b, The Wayne or Cart must be lyned with sheetes, lest..the seede fall thorowe. 1649Caldwell Papers (Maitl. Club) I. 102 Ane new sheitt of tyking to ye lard's horss. 1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., Sheet, in the manege. 1824Scott St. Ronan's xxii, Meddle with your horse-sheets, and leave shawls alone. 1842Abdy Water Cure 61 When the whole skin was thoroughly warm, the sheet was changed for another wet one. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Sheets, a name given by railway companies to wagon covers, of oiled canvas, made of different qualities and sizes, from 23 to 42 square yards. 1888Mrs. Beeton's Househ. Managem. §3279 She should..cover up every article of furniture that is likely to spoil with large dusting-sheets.
c. In phr. referring to performing penance in a sheet (orig. for fornication).
Cf. 1556, 1797 s.v. penance n. 2, and sheeten a.
1587Harrison England ii. xi. 185/1 in Holinshed, Harlots and their mates by..dooing of open penance in sheets, in churches and market steeds are..put to rebuke. 1597Pilgr. Parnass. v. 546 An honest man that nere did stande in sheete. 1607Middleton Fam. Love iv. iv, I can describe how often a man may lie with another man's wife before 'a come to the white sheet. 1616R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) 104 The standing in a sheet (A punnishment for thy offence moste meet). 1902W. J. Ford Hist. Camb. Univ. C.C. Pref. 11, I am willing to do penance of sheet and candle if I have wounded any one's feelings.
2. = winding-sheet (q.v.). Also † burying-sheet, † shrouding-sheet.
c1000ælfric Hom. II. 260 Hi bewundon his lic mid linenre scytan. a1300Cursor M. 17288 + 192 Peter come after & in he went..And saȝe þe schetez spred. 13..Medit. 955 Þys body was leyde vpp on a shete. 1450Engl. Ch. Furniture (Peacock 1866) 181 My wreched body to be beryd in a chitte with owte any kiste. 1531Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1904) 42 A beryng sheet with a seme. a1568Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 56 Quhen thay ar prickit in a scheit Than lost is all thair ryaltie. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. iii. 97 Tybalt, ly'st thou there in thy bloudy sheet? 1633Earl of Manchester Al Mondo 24 Wee come into the world with a sheete about vs, no sooner borne, but going to bee buried. 1721Kelly Sc. Prov. 6 All that you'll get will be a Kist, and a Sheet after all. 1816C. Wolfe Burial Sir J. Moore iii, Not in sheet nor in shroud we bound him.
3. a. A large oblong piece of linen, cotton (or, formerly, hempen) cloth, used as an article of bedding, one being placed immediately above and one below the person. the sheets, the pair of sheets belonging to a bed; between the sheets (colloq.), in bed.
c1250Prov. ælfred 310 in O.E. Misc. 120 Schene vnder schete, and þeyh heo is schendful. c1374Chaucer Former Age 45 No down of fetheres ne no bleched shete Was kyd to hem. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 233 Whan he streyneth hym to streche þe strawe is his schetes. 1424E.E. Wills (1882) 56, I wull he haue..to ilk of þe too beddis too peyre schetys goode. 1462in Anstey Munim. Acad. (Rolls) II. 698 A peyr of schets. 1531Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1904) 42 A payre of shettes of holond. 1611Shakes. Cymb. ii. ii. 16 Cytherea, How brauely thou becom'st thy Bed; fresh Lilly, And whiter then the Sheetes. 1622Beaum. & Fl. Beggar's Bush iii. iii, To steal from the hedge, both the shirt and the sheets. 1711Addison Spect. No. 90 ⁋7, I was laid very decently between a Pair of Sheets. 1790Burns Taylor fell thro' bed i, The blankets were thin and the sheets they were sma'. 1842Tennyson Vision of Sin 68 Bitter barmaid, waning fast! See that sheets are on my bed. 1865Mrs. J. H. Riddell Max. Drewitt xxix, When induced to go to bed,..retiring from view between the sheets in his boots, coat, waistcoat, and trousers.
b. pl. in phrases with reference to sexual intercourse, e.g. between the sheets, lawful sheets. Also, with allusion to ‘the shaking of the sheets’ (see shaking vbl. n. 1 d), to dance (a dance) between a pair of sheets.
[1599Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 144 O when she had writ it, & was reading it ouer, she found Benedicke and Beatrice betweene the sheete.] 1604― Oth. ii. iii. 29 Happinesse to their Sheetes. 1605― Lear iv. vi. 118 My Daughters got 'tweene the lawfull sheets. 1612Chapman Widow's T. i. ii, Tom... How her honour..entertained him in very familiar manner. Ars. Nay more, that he had alreadie possest her sheetes. 1633Massinger Guardian i. i, The delight to meet in the old dance Between a pair of sheets; my Grandame call'd it The peopling of the world. 1683Tryon Way to Health 627 The moderate use of lawful Sheets. a1704T. Brown Alsop's State Conform. Wks. 1711 IV. 120 You and I can never dance betwixt one pair of Sheets. 1719Young Revenge ii. i, Must I then..Lead to his nuptial sheets the blushing maid? 1871R. Ellis Catullus lxvii. 30 Truly a noble father..Thus in a son's kind sheets lewdly to puddle.
c. In proverbial phr. as white (or pale) as a sheet. Cf. white a. 5 b.
1751Fielding Amelia III. vii. viii. 84 He entered..with a face as white as a sheet. 1839W. T. Thompson Chron. Pineville (1845) 142 He turned pale as a sheet. 1872Hardy Under Greenw. Tree I. i. viii. 125 You'll be white as a sheet to-morrow. 1929E. Rice Street Scene i. 72 Well, there was the three o' them—Mr. Maurrant lookin' at Sankey as if he was ready to kill him, an' Mrs. Maurrant as white as a sheet, an' Sankey as innocent as the babe unborn. 1952A. J. Cronin Adv. in Two Worlds xxxix. 276 Sitting on a high stool, he seemed little larger than a shrimp, pale as a sheet, with..big dark eyes.
4. A sail. Chiefly poet.
Not a nautical use; prob. originating as a misuse of sheet n.2
1637Heywood Pleas. Dial. 210 A deeper Sea I now perforce must saile, And lay my sheats ope to a freer gale. 1666Dryden Ann. Mirab. lvi, Their folded Sheets dismiss the useless Air. 1712Parnell Spect. No. 501 ⁋3 The Boat was push'd off, the Sheet was spread. 1725Pope Odyss. ii. 465 With speed the mast they rear, with speed unbind The spacious sheet, and stretch it to the wind.
5. a. An oblong or square piece of paper or parchment, esp. for writing or printing; spec. one of the pieces of definite size (varying according to the kind) in which paper is made, 24 (formerly also 25) going to a quire. (The ‘sheet’ of writing-paper was formerly once folded, so as to form two ‘leaves’.)
See also broadsheet; also balance-, score-, time-sheet.
1510Stanbridge Vocabula (W. de W.) C ij b, Philura, a shete. 1530Palsgr. 266/2 Shete of paper, foyllet de papier. 1538London in Lett. Suppr. Monast. (Camden) 227 A multitude of small bonys [etc.]..wiche wolde occupie iiij. schetes of papyr to make particularly an inventary of every part thereof. 1545Brinklow Compl. ix. C iij b, For writting one syde of a shete of paper..he will haue ij. grotes. 1613J. Tapp Pathw. Knowl. 62 A Bale containes Reames 10 Quires 200 Sheets 5000. 1623J. Taylor (Water P.) Praise Hemp-seed 24 Foure and twenty Sheets doe make a Quire. a1700Evelyn Diary 27 Nov. 1655, He told me of an inke that would give a dozen copies, moist sheets of paper being press'd on it. 1743Johnson Let. to Mr. Cave in Boswell, I believe I am going to write a long letter, and have therefore taken a whole sheet of paper. 1775― Let. 27 May ibid., I have returned Lord Hailes's entertaining sheets. 1815Scott Guy M. xvi, She..writes six sheets a-week to a female correspondent. 1833J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 224 The supply of blank paper, laid upon a table, from whence the sheets are drawn..by the boy standing upon the platform. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. iii, He had..managed to fill two sides of a sheet of letter-paper. 1894Hall Caine Manxman v. vii, Pete went out to buy a sheet of notepaper and an envelope. 1895Bookman Oct. 26/2 Plans..should not be large folded sheets, but single page plans of small districts.
allusively.1691Comedy, Win Her & Take Her ii. i. 19 She's a sheet of Rivell'd parchment, on which is Imprest a perpetual Almanack.
b. in sheets: lying flat or expanded, not folded.
1887Cassell's Encycl. Dict.
c. A piece of paper on which objects are fixed and arranged in order for sale and use.
1706in Halliwell Acc. Collect. Bills, etc. (1852) 28 One sheet of pines 4d. Mod. Several sheets of botanical specimens.
d. A piece of paper (or card) which is divided by means of perforations or the like into sections which may be torn or cut away as required.
1776Pennsylvania Even. Post 2 Mar. 110/2 A Sheet of Continental Money,..containing sixteen bills, being numbered 38019, and 38032. 1852Rep. Sel. Comm. Postage Label Stamps 94 That a sheet of perforated stamps might be charged a penny more than the unperforated one. 1901Whitaker's Alm. (Postal Guide), Uncut sheets of half⁓penny wrappers, 14 on each sheet.
e. A dollar bill (U.S.) or pound note; the monetary value of this. slang.
1937Research Stud. State Coll. Washington V. 19 What a fellow gets for one sheet from an officer he can sell to the boys..for five and ten sheets. 1958F. Norman Bang to Rights i. 48 Which if it did happen would cost some one half a sheet. 1969M. Pugh Last Place Left xxvi. 191 A sheet the night. Five quid if you last a week. 1978Hot Car June 94 Maserati air horns [have]..a howling, double high-pitched, screaming note... This cacophony can be yours, whatever car you drive, for less than ten sheets.
f. U.S. slang. = rap sheet s.v. rap n.1 7.
1958N.Y. Times Mag. 16 Mar. 88/3 Sheet, a criminal record. 1976C. Weston Rouse Demon (1977) xxvi. 125 Somebody scared him into it. Let's take a look at his sheet, I want to know who.
6. a. In printing and bookbinding, a piece of paper (as in 5) printed and folded so as to form pages of a required size (folio, quarto, etc.). Also, a quantity of printed matter equal to that contained in a sheet.
1589[? Lyly] Pappe w. Hatchet B iij, All his works bound close, are at least sixe sheetes in quarto, and he calls them the first tome of his familiar Epistle. 1659Bp. Walton Consid. Considered vi. 92 When the sheet is past the Correctors hand, and is Printed off. 1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing 218 If it be the First Page of the first Sheet of a Book the Signature is A. 1689Gazophyl. Angl. Pref. A 4 Lest the Book should exceed the quantity of Sheets design'd. 1751Chambers' Cycl. Advt. conc. 2nd ed., A considerable part of the copy was prepared, and upwards of twenty sheets actually printed in that method. 1808Scott Let. to C. K. Sharpe 30 Dec. in Lockhart, The fee is ten guineas a sheet. 1824Johnson Typogr. II. *2 Two Sheets in Folio, Quired, or lying one in another. 1844Dickens Let. 3 Apr. A Magazine sheet is sixteen pages. 1885Lock in Workshop Rec. Ser. iv. 228/1 By ‘binding’ a book is meant the arrangement of the ‘sheets’ composing it..in proper sequence, within a pair of covers.
b. in sheets: (of books) not bound.
1693Lond. Gaz. No. 2854/4 Numbers of the Books..have been..stolen out of Thomas Basset's Warehouse.., all in Sheets. 1762Foote Orator ii. Wks. 1799 I. 215 Four hundred of News from the invisible world, in sheets. 1880J. W. Zaehnsdorf Art of Bookbinding i. 1 Should the amateur wish to have his books in sheets, he may get them by asking his bookseller for them. 1972P. Gaskell New Introd. Bibliogr. 144 Long books were divided in quires of 12–24 sheets before this folding took place; hence ‘books in quires’ as a synonym for books in sheets.
c. pl. With qualifying demonstrative or its equivalent: Pages or leaves of a book; esp. these sheets, the following sheets = the book now before the reader. Now rare.
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. i. 122 In sacred sheets of either Testament 'Tis hard to find an higher Argument. 1676W. Allen Addr. Nonconf. 114 What is said..by J. O. in some Sheets intituled, Two Questions [etc.]. 1707Sir W. Hope New Method Fencing Ded., Having of late Discovered the Short and Easy Method of Fencing, contained in the following Sheets. 1710C. Wheatly Bk. Com. Prayer xv. (1729) 540 It is easy for the Readers to turn to and observe them, without my swelling these Sheets with them here. 1829Scott Guy M. Introd., In changing his plan,..which was done in the course of printing, the early sheets retained the vestiges of the original tenor of the story. 1868M. Pattison Academ. Org. 4 The following sheets assume that the English nation [etc.].
†d. A pamphlet. Obs.
c1684in Harl. Misc. (1745) V. 348 It is not my Presumption, in this Sheet, to write the Life of this great Statesman. 1726Life W. Penn in P.'s Wks. (1782) I. p. cli, About this time [1702]..he wrote a sheet entitled, ‘Considerations upon the Bill against Occasional Conformity.’
e. A newspaper. Now chiefly U.S.
1749Foote Knights i. (? 1780) 6 Quires of news-papers! now, I reckon, you read a matter of eight sheets every day. a1796Burns To Mr. Peter Stuart, Your sheet, man, (Though glad I'm to see't, man,) I get it no' ae day in ten. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair l, He tried to..read his paper as usual... He chuckled and swore to himself behind the sheet. 1912Times 19 Oct. 5/3 The insinuations of the Temps are only taken up by a very few boulevard sheets. 1926R. Hughes in Hearst's Internat. Feb. 44/1 ‘How come the newspapers keep saying your fights are all fixed?’.. ‘Ah, who cares what the doity sheets say!’ 1958Spectator 20 June 807/2 A mass-circulation London Sunday sheet. 1977R. M. Ours in Bond & McLeod Newslett. to Newspapers iii. 220 Rivington made it clear that he intended no partisan sheet.
7. A continuous extent or ‘sweep’ of something conceived as hanging, falling, or moving in a certain direction.
a. Of light, lightning.
1605Shakes. Lear iii. ii. 46 Such sheets of Fire, such bursts of horrid Thunder. 1795Coleridge Lines written at Shurton Bars 58 When a second sheet of light Flashed o'er the blackness of the night. 1847De Quincey Sp. Mil. Nun x. Wks. 1853 III. 21 A broad sheet of lightning, which, through the darkness of evening, revealed the boat. 1857Hawthorne Engl. Note-bks. (1870) II. 268 There was a broad sheet of daylight in the west. 1882‘Ouida’ Maremma viii, The sky was a sheet of lightning.
b. Of rain, mist, fog.
1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 437 Oft whole sheets descend of slucy Rain. a1774Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) I. 327 A sheet of vapour rising from the sea. 1844Dickens Let. to T. Mitton 5 Nov., The water has been falling down in one continual sheet. 1894Yachting (Badm. Libr.) II. 377 A heavy squall with sheets of rain. 1897G. Allen Type-writer Girl i, As one beholds the Paps of Jura on a day of sea-fog through swaying sheets of white cloud.
transf.1892Bierce In Midst of Life 89 Our fellows..sent broad sheets of bullets against the blazing crest of the offending works.
c. In an organ, the current (of wind) directed through the wind-way against the upper lip of a pipe.
1881C. A. Edwards Organs xvii. 135 Any movement of the languid would..alter the direction of the sheet of wind.
8. A broad expanse or stretch of something lying out flat, presenting a white or glistening surface, or forming a relatively thin covering or layer.
a. of water. (In quot. 1593 ? collect.)
1593Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1860) 219 Eighte shete of the fishinge water of Southe Yarowe. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 83 There you have the Canal and Sheets of Water in the same manner as in the other. c1710C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 193 A Long as well as Large ffountaine or pond wch is Called a sheete of water. 1727–46Thomson Summer 594 An azure sheet it rushes broad. 1784Cowper Task v. 106 The light and smoky mist That in its fall the liquid sheet throws wide. 1845Penny Cycl. Suppl. I. 35/1 The vast plain..during the greater part of the year..is a sheet of water. 1896M. M. Harper Rambles in Galloway i. 23 The loch is a lovely sheet of water.
b. of ice, foam.
1694Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. (1711) 172 If it be calm Weather..they stay in the Sea, and fasten themselves to a sheet of Ice, and so they drive along with the Stream. 1807Wilkinson in Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) II. App. 29 The ice had commenced drifting in large sheets. 1833Tennyson Lotos-Eaters 13 A slumbrous sheet of foam below. 1865Geikie Scen. & Geol. Scot. iv. 78 The interior of that tract of country is covered with one wide sheet of snow and ice. 1867A. J. Wilson Vashti xxvi, The surf was..tossing sheets of foam around the stone piers.
c. of vegetation, flowers.
1791Burns Lament Mary Q. Scots i, Now Nature..spreads her sheets o' daisies white Out o'er the grassy lea. 1857Hawthorne Engl. Note-bks. (1870) II. 316 Broad sheets of ivy here and there mantle the headlong rock. 1859Tennyson Guinevere 387 Sheets of hyacinth That seem'd the heavens upbreaking thro' the earth.
d. of sediment, gravel, rock, lava, etc.; spec. in Geol. and Metal-mining (see quots.).
1815Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xxxii, O'er sheets of granite, dark and broad{ddd}lay the road. 1818― Hrt. Midl. i, A mountain, whose sides were covered with heather and sheets of loose shingle. 1877Huxley Physiogr. 203 Sheets of lava are found in the north-eastern part of Ireland. 1880D. C. Davies Metallif. Min. 421 Sheet [Australian], a solid body of pure ore filling a crevice. 1897Proc. Soc. Antiq. 17 June 422 A now denuded gravel sheet which once covered the district. 1898S. H. Cox Prospecting for Min. 113 Cave Deposits..might be subdivided into chambers or pockets, flats or sheets, and pipe veins. 1905Tarr New Phys. Geog. 34 A mass of lava thrust between strata forms an intruded sheet or sill.
e. Anat. and Path. of tissue.
1872Humphry Myology 30 There are four muscular sheets thus arising placed beneath one another and distinct from each other. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 504 The new epidermis is thrown off..either in sheets or in scales.
9. a. A relatively thin piece of considerable breadth of a malleable, ductile, or pliable substance.
1675H. Woolley Gentlew. Comp. 132 Lay the Meat round the Dish, on a sheet of Paste. a1700Evelyn Diary 7 Sept. 1666, Where a sheet of lead covering a great space..was totally mealted. 1796Mrs. Glasse's Cookery viii. 143 Lay a sheet of puff-paste at the bottom of your dish. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. xiv. (1842) 311 A still higher heat may be gained by fanning the upper part of the fire with a sheet of pasteboard. 1856H. Chance in Jrnl. Soc. Arts IV. 226/2 (Glassmaking), The sheets, when annealed, are drawn from the kiln. 1893J. A. Hodges Elem. Photogr. xv. 100 A sheet of plate glass. 1904Howitt Native Tribes S.E. Austr. viii. 462 A sheet of bark is rolled round him.
b. A flat piece of tin, used for baking cakes, etc.
1747H. Glasse Cookery xv. 140 Flower some Sheets of Tin, and drop your Biskets of what Bigness you please. 1769Mrs. Raffald Engl. Housekpr. (1778) 274 Grease your tin sheets, and drop them [the jumbles] in the shape of a macaroon. 1846A. Soyer Gastron. Regen. p. xxiii, Baking-sheets of various sizes.
c. Rubber prepared in thin pieces.
1900Brannt India Rubber ii. 103 The manufacture of fine cut sheet was invented by Charles Macintosh. 1912Times 19 Dec. 16/3 Vallambrosa smoked sheet realized 4s. 73/4d. and first latex crepe 4s. 4½d. per lb.
d. Sheet iron or steel; a length of this.
1884W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron x. 211 It is usual to describe all plates of a thickness below No. 4 B.W.G. (Birmingham Wire Gauge)—·238 inch—as ‘sheets’. 1897Daily News 12 Apr. 2/5 Sheets of 24 gauge. 1899Ibid. 23 Jan. 8/6 Galvanised corrugated sheets.
10. A more or less extensive piece (of a wall). rare. (Cf. F. pan de mur.)
1799Hull Advertiser 21 Sept. 4/1 Every shot knocking down whole sheets of a wall.
11. Geom. A portion of a surface analogous to the branch of a curve.
1827H. P. Hamilton Anal. Geom. in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) I. 730 The conical surface will be composed of two similar portions, one above, and the other below the vertex; each portion is called a sheet. 1859Cayley Math. Papers (1891) IV. 117 An algebraic cone consists..of a closed sheet or sheets.
12. a. attrib. and Comb., as sheet-cloth, sheet-hem, sheet-leaf, sheet-lettering, sheet-maker, sheet-stealer, sheet-whiteness; sheet-like, sheet-pale, sheet-white adjs.
1547Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 256 A *sheite cloithe of my lynne webbe.
1880Plain Hints Needlework 14 The width of a *sheet hem is very different from that on a pocket-handkerchief.
1641Brome Jovial Crew i. Wks. 1873 III. 354 The foul Fiend took him napping with his nose Betwixt the *sheet-leaves of his conjuring Book.
1867Ure's Dict. Arts III. 1044 An expanding comb guides the even and *sheet-like threads on to the weavers' beam. 1883C. A. Moloney W. African Fisheries 19 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.), A loose sheet-like body-covering wrapper.
1906Hardy Dynasts II. iii. v. 225 Sir David Baird, still helpless from his wound, was carried in a cot, *sheet-pale and thin.
1611Cotgr. s.v., Adventurier, Vn Adventurier vagabond,..a hedge-creeper, henne-killer, *sheet-stealer.
1891M. M. Dowie Girl in Karp. 270 The closed door of a *sheet-white cottage.
1956H. Gold Man who was not with It xxvii. 250 This..creature who was Pauline's dark daughter; but now ice-whiteness, *sheet-whiteness,..in her still and scared face.
b. Special comb.: sheet band Printing (see quot.); sheet-calender (see quot.); sheet-card, a kind of card used in cotton manufacture (see quot.); sheet-cow, dial., a cow having a broad white band round the body [cf. sheeted 3]; sheet-delivery (see quot.); sheet erosion, the erosion of soil by rain-water acting more or less uniformly over a wide area; sheet-fed a. Printing, using paper in the form of cut sheets; sheet-filled a., having the sails filled out by the wind; sheet-flood, a short-lived expanse of running water that spreads as a continuous film over a large area following sudden heavy rain; sheet-flow Geomorphol., a flow that covers a wide expanse of a surface instead of being confined in a channel; sheet glass, (a) cylinder glass; also attrib.; (b) a vessel made of this glass; (c) in mod. use, a kind of flat glass made by a vertical drawing process (cf. Fourcault); sheet ice, ice formed in a thin, smooth layer on water; sheet lightning, lightning in a sheet-like form due to reflection by the clouds; sheet-pile (see quot. 1862); hence sheet-pile v. trans., to protect with sheet-piles; sheet-piling, a continuous wall of sheet-piles; sheet pointing machine (see quot.); Sheetrock, the proprietary name of a plasterboard made of gypsum between heavy paper (also with small initial); † sheet-shaking Sc., remains of meal, etc. shaken from the bottom of a sheet; cf. poke-shaking s.v. poke n.1 7; sheet-wash, sheet erosion; (erosion caused by) a sheet-flood; sheet-ways, in single sheets written only on one side; sheet-wise, in the form or manner of sheet-work; sheet-work (see quot.).
1946V. S. Ganderton in H. Whetton Pract. Printing & Binding x. 120/2 Carefully set, the *sheet bands hold the sheet up to the cylinder and help to expel air from between the sheet and the cylinder, and thus minimize buckles.
1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Sheet Calender, a machine for pressing paper, rubber, etc., into sheets and giving it surface.
1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 380 Cards are formed in two ways; the one called *sheet-card, is made about four inches wide, and 18 inches long, or of a length corresponding with the width of the main cylinder, which they have to cover; the other, called fillet-card.
1772in Mrs. Delany's Autobiogr. Ser. ii. I. 476 This comes hoping that the *sheet cow will come walking..into the charming domaines of Bulstrode on Wensday next.
1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Sheet Delivery, delivering the printed sheet from the form to the fly.
1917Mosier & Gustafson Soil Physics & Management xxvii. 361 *Sheet erosion is the source of far greater loss than gullying. 1978W. W. Emmett in M. J. Kirkby Hillside Hydrol. v. 171 Rilling is generally considered to be evidence of more accelerated erosion than sheet erosion.
1926*Sheet-fed [see rotary a. 2 b]. 1973W. H. Hallahan Ross Forgery iv. 52 The paper salesman..sold these people paper in sheets for sheet-fed presses.
1652Benlowes Theophila ix. xxxix, The Poet's Pharos be that sets forth sail, While he steers *sheet-fill'd with a holy gale.
1897W. J. McGee in Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. VIII. 88 Colloquially a moving water-body of this type is sometimes known as a ‘wash’; but since the term is commonly applied primarily to the product and only secondarily to the agency, and since it is usually restricted to limited, though broad channels.., it seems desirable to use some other designation for the water-body; and the term *sheetflood has come into use in notes and in conversation. 1938Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. XLIX. 1344 One of the most striking peculiarities of sheetfloods is the shortness of their flow in distance as well as in time. 1977A. Hallam Planet Earth 49 After storms, flow is in the form of sheet-floods, comparatively shallow floods running over a broad area.
1928Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. XXXIX. 481 The deposit was obviously not a *sheet⁓flow; it was a stream [of detrital material] of unknown length. 1977A. Hallam Planet Earth 85/2 This leads to preferential weathering at the break in slope, the weathering products being removed by sheetflow, wind and other processes.
1805Act 45 Geo. III, c. 30 Sched., All other Window Glass..commonly called..by the Name of Crown Glass, or German *Sheet Glass. 1846MacCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 745 Sheet glass furnaces. 1887Month LXI. 162 The reliquary, consisting of two round sheet glasses. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia VIII. 202/1 Sheet glass of admirable flatness for many common purposes, unmarred by glass-to-metal contact, is produced by the continuous vertical draw process.
c1900in Regional Lang. Stud.—Newfoundland (1978) viii. 24 *Sheet ice, thin ice of one or two nights frost. 1964H. H. Smith Shelter Bay 123 But even thin ice—what we call sheet ice, could cause us plenty of trouble.
1794J. B. S. Morritt Let. 24 June (1914) iii. 50 We have beautiful *sheet lightning every evening, and have had for above a week. 1829Chapters Phys. Sci. 472 Lightning of this sort, denominated sheet lightning, is mostly to be seen in the hot sultry evenings of summer or autumn, and is generally unaccompanied with thunder. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 726 When it seem'd he saw No pale sheet-lightnings from afar, but fork'd Of the near storm.
1841S. C. Brees Gloss. Civ. Engin. s.v. Foundation, To drive a row of *sheet [printed sheep] piles next the foundations of walls adjoining the sea, or rivers. 1862Rankine Man. Civ. Engin. §404. 605 Sheet Piles are flat piles, which, being driven successively edge to edge, form a vertical or nearly vertical sheet, for the purpose of preventing the materials of a foundation from spreading.
1842Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. V. 58/2 *Sheet-pile it a short space from the wall of the hole.
1789W. Jessop Rep. Thames & Isis (1791) 23 With some short *sheet piling underneath it at the foot. 1837Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 12/2 The foot of the river wall will be protected by sheet piling of whole timbers 8 feet long.
1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Sheet Pointing Machine, a machine for preparing printing sheets for cutting.
1921Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 29 Nov. 1065/2 *Sheetrock... Plaster Wall-Board. Claims use since Aug. 28, 1917. U.S. Gypsum Co., Chicago. 1924Trade Marks Jrnl. 5 Nov. 2475 Sheetrock... Plaster in sheets, for use as wall boards in building or decoration. U.S. Gypsum Co..., Chicago. 1973R. B. Parker Godwulf Manuscript (1974) ix. 71 It was a tiny office... No windows, sheetrock partitions painted green.
1543Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 191 The vittell byaris of the merkat scattis thame grytlie in taking of sampillis, *scheytschakkingis, and sic oder ewill vsit custum. 1561Ibid. 335 Nor na skaiffry, sic as sampill and scheit schakin, to be tane thairof.
1936Finch & Trewartha Elem. Geogr. xxv. 559 One of the most widespread and least noticed kinds of erosion on tilled land is *sheet wash. 1939Geogr. Jrnl. XCIII. 305 If Tibu accounts of the nature of the rainfall are even partially credited, some form of sheet-wash can readily be imagined covering the whole floor of even a broad wadi, and undercutting its sides. 1964A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. (ed. 2) xx. 613 A sudden change of slope seems to be favoured by torrential seasonal rainfalls and by the liberation of only minute amounts of fine debris which can be readily swept away by sheet-wash over the pediment. 1972J. G. Cruickshank Soil Geogr. ii. 39 Fluvial erosion by rivers or sheet wash is the most important present form of transportation of material.
1752J. Louthian Form of Process (ed. 2) 262 That each Sheet of an Extract, written *Sheet-ways, consist of forty nine Lines,..and, if wrote Book-ways, that it consist of two Pages, and of thirty six Lines in each Page.
1888Jacobi Printers Vocab., *Sheet work, applied to works or jobs printed both sides—the reverse of half-sheet or ‘work and turn’.
13. quasi-adj.
a. Rolled out in a sheet; esp. of metals, as sheet iron (also freq. attrib.), sheet lead, sheet metal, sheet steel.
1582in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 358 Sheete lead to make A spowte. 1633T. James Voy. 75 The Carpenters-sheet-lead. 1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xi. ⁋21 The Lye-Trough..is Leaded with Sheet-Lead. 1816J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 11 Bell-springs are rarely made of any thing else than sheet iron thus managed. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. vii. (1842) 209 Sheet caoutchouc, which is about the tenth or twelfth of an inch thick. Ibid. iv. 132 A piece of sheet copper. Ibid. xxiii. 584 Plates of sheet zinc are often required for the precipitation of metals. 1840Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 290/2 A thin plate of sheet brass. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 323 There are three sizes of the sheet-iron hand-barrow. 1869Mrs. Whitney We Girls vi, We..sent for the sheet-iron men, and had the stove taken up-stairs. 1869R. Murray Mar. Engines 35 Sheet-flue Boilers. 1876Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 239 The piece of sheet percha that is held in the hand. 1888Rutley Rock-Forming Min. 9 A Bunsen's burner..provided with a small chimney of sheet-iron. 1933Rep. & Mem. Aeronaut. Res. Comm. No. 1553. 18 Constructions in thin sheet metal (e.g. monocoque fuselage) normally consist of a large area of sheet divided into a number of small panels by a system of stiffeners. 1959Motor Man. (ed. 36) i. 3 The sheet metal forming the front wings and the sides of the bonnet. 1976Lieberman & Rhodes Compl. CB Handbk. v. 97 It is fastened securely by two sheet-metal screws that actually screw into the rain-gutter groove of the trunk.
b. Hence, pertaining to the manufacture of sheet iron or steel, as sheet-mill. Also in objective comb., as sheet-maker, sheet-worker.
1884W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron xvi. 334 The sheet mills of Birmingham and of South Wales. 1885Daily News 5 Oct. 2/5 Certain of the sheet makers are declining to accept further orders... Orders in the sheet trade are very irregularly distributed. 1886Ibid. 20 Sept. 2/5 Sheet prices are without change. 1892Labour Comm. Gloss., Sheet Makers, manufacturers who work sheet mills, as distinguished from plates and strip mills.
c. Of water, etc.: Spread out in a sheet.
1896Idler Mar. 175/1 At this time it was a sheet-calm. A floating soup-plate would not have filled. 1899W. M. Davis Phys. Geog. 314 The water finds no channels; it spreads out in a shallow sheet, called a sheetflood, which gains a breadth of a mile or more, but a depth of only one or two feet. 1904Mission Field June 436 The land is sub⁓irrigated by what is called ‘sheetwater’.
d. = Printed on a single sheet or broadside (see sense 5), esp. sheet-almanac. sheet music, music published in sheet form (as opp. to book form).
1683in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 187, I writ to your Lordship for a dozen of your sheet Almanacks for this yeer. 1767Ann. Reg., Hist. Europe 83 There has been lately published a sheet list of changes, said to have happened during the present reign. 1768Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 129 She examines the sheet almanack pasted up behind the door, to see what holiday it might be. 1857Lawrence (Kansas) Republican 11 June 3 (Advt.), City drug store... Periodicals, lithographs, sheet music, etc. 1881F. J. Crowest Phases Mus. Eng. 146 The pricing of Songs and of Sheet-music generally. 1901D. B. Hall & Ld. A. Osborne Sunshine & Surf ii. 17 We had a big sheet almanac hanging at one end of the cabin. 1929J. B. Priestley Good Companions iii. iii. 534 Performing rights, sheet music, gramophone records. 1981J. Wainwright Urge for Justice i. xii. 84 The window of the shop was crammed with sheet music.
▪ II. sheet, n.2|ʃiːt|
Forms: 1 scéata, 4 chete, 4–6 s(c)hete, 5 shet, 6 shit, Sc. scheit, 6–7 sheate, 6–8 sheat, 7– sheet.
[OE. scéata wk. masc., having the meanings of OE. scéat (see sheet n.1), also = lower corner of a sail, ‘pes veli’; in comb. scéatlíne ‘propes’ (see Wr.–Wülcker 183/26 and 288/24) = MLG. schôtlîne, in which sense the simple word is recorded from the 14th c. For the cognate forms and their meanings see sheet n.1; cf. shoot n.2]
1. A rope (or chain) attached to either of the lower corners of a square sail (or the after lower corner of a fore-and-aft sail), and used to extend the sail or to alter its direction. false sheet: see quot. 1644 in sense 4.
See also fore-sheet 1, jib-sheet (jib n.1 3), main-sheet 1.
1336Acc. Exch. K.R. 19/31 m. 4 In xxx. petris cordis de canabo..produobus schetes inde faciendis. 1352Excheq. Acc. Q.R. 20 no. 27 (P.R.O.) Pro ij. cables novis, ij. chetis, j. hauser et quodam bowelyne. 1373in Riley Mem. Lond. (1868) 370 [One sail with] 2 shettes, 2 thurghwalis. c1460Pilgrim's Sea-Voy. 25 Hale the bowelyne! now, vere the shete! 1486Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 13 A payre of takkes & a payr of shets weying dccxlj lb. 1522Lett. & Papers Hen. VIII, III. ii. 975 Vyere the shit. 1549Compl. Scotl. vi. 40 Hail eftir the foir sail scheit. 1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 15 The boulespret hath no bow lines, and the misen sheats, are called the starne sheats. 1627― Seaman's Gram. v. 23 The Sheats..in top sailes..serue to hale them home, that is, to bring the clew close to the yards arme. a1658Cleveland Wks. (1687) 293 Vere, vere, more Sheet. 1722Diaper tr. Oppian's Halieut. i. 367 Let fly the Sheets. 1796P. Hoare Song, The Arethusa 18 Not a sheet, or a Tack, Or a brace did she slack. 1805E. Berry 13 Oct. in Nicolas Disp. (1846) VII. 118 note, The main-top-gallant sheet was carried away. I then let fly the top gallant sheets. 1887G. B. Goode, etc. Fisheries U.S. v. II. 571 Enough ‘sheet’ to allow a slow headway. 1891C. H. Patterson Naut. Dict. 160 With boom sails sheets are used for controlling the boom.
b. † betwixt a pair of sheets or both sheets aft: said of a ship sailing right before the wind.
1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 39 A flowne sheat is when shee goes before the wind, or betwixt a paire of sheats, or all sailes drawing. Ibid. 42 Well Master the Channell is broad enough; Yet you cannot steare betwixt a paire of sheats; Those are words of mockery betwixt the Cunner and the Stearesman. 1632Lithgow Trav. vii. 328 Each bulging sayle..begins to swell, betweene two sheetes. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Both sheets aft (entre deux écoutes, Fr.), the situation of a ship that sails right afore the wind.
2. three sheets in the wind: very drunk.
a sheet in the wind (or wind's eye) is used occas. = half drunk.
1821Egan Real Life i. xviii. 385 Old Wax and Bristles is about three sheets in the wind. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xx, He..seldom went up to the town without coming down ‘three sheets in the wind’. 1862Trollope Orley F. lvii, A thought tipsy—a sheet or so in the wind, as folks say. 1883Stevenson Treas. Isl. xx, Maybe you think we were all a sheet in the wind's eye.
3. See quots. and fore-sheet 2, stern-sheet.
1644H. Manwayring Seaman's Dict. 92 Those plancks under water, which come along the Run of the ship, and are closed to the Sterne-post, are called Sheates, and that part within boord, abaft, in the Run of the ship, is called the sterne⁓sheates. 1857P. Colquhoun Comp. Oarsman's Guide 29 The flooring abaft the stateroom [sitter's seat] is called the after-sheet, the forward one the forward-sheet, and the next to it (if there be two forward), the waist-sheet. Ibid. 31 Sheets are the boards used fore and aft, as a floor to the boat, in the same way as the burthens amidships. 1891C. H. Patterson Naut. Dict. 160 Sheets, the spaces in a rowing boat forward and abaft the thwarts, and named respectively fore-sheets and stern-sheets. 1898A. Ansted Dict. Sea Terms s.v., Head-sheets, stern-sheets (in open boats), the floor-boards covering the space either at the head or the stern of the boat.
4. attrib., as sheet-bend (bend n.1 3), sheet-bitt, sheet-block (block n. 5), sheet-clip, sheet-pendant (pendant n. 7), sheet-pennant (pennant1 1), sheet-rope, sheet-slip (see slip n.3 3 e), sheet-stopper: see quots.
1841R. H. Dana Seaman's Man. 56 Take your tack under the yard and bend it by a *sheet-bend to the outer clew. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Sheet-bend, a sort of double hitch, made by passing the end of one rope through the bight of another, round both parts of the other, and under its own part.
1891C. H. Patterson Naut. Dict. 160 *Sheet Bitts, bitts near the mast to which the topsail sheets are belayed.
1644H. Manwayring Seaman's Dict. 92 We use to bind an other roape to the clew of the saile above the *Sheate-block, to succour and ease the Sheate, and that roape we call a false Sheate. 1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 225 Sheet-block straps in the lift with a splice. 1841R. H. Dana Seaman's Man. ix. 47 In which case the heavy tack and sheet-blocks may be unhooked.
1898A. Ansted Dict. Sea Terms, *Sheet clip (or *sheet slip), an instrument, the principal agent in which is a sort of drop pawl, by which sheets may be held, while necessary, and instantly released.
1908Paasch's Dict. Naval Terms 422 *Sheet-pendant, a strong piece of rope attached by one end to the clew of a stay-sail or jib.
1841R. H. Dana Seaman's Man. ix. 53 Having the *sheet pennant hauled amidships.
a1642Suckling Lett. (1646) 89 Which, like the pulling of a *sheat-rope at Sea, slackens the sail. 1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 226 Sheet-rope splices into the clue of the sail.
Ibid. 176 Fore⁓tack, and *Sheet, Stoppers, are for securing the tacks and sheets, till belayed.
▪ III. sheet, v.1|ʃiːt|
[f. sheet n.1]
1. trans. To wrap or fold in or as in a sheet (lit. and fig.); now spec. to cover with a protecting sheet of canvas, tarpaulin, etc.
1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 163 You haue in sleepe the image of death, wherein you are sheeted and wrapped vp euery night. 1835J. P. Kennedy Horse-Shoe Robinson iv, The pale moon that now sheeted with its light her whole figure. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. i. xii, Trees there are all sheeted with variegated fire. Ibid. III. iv. i, A fair young creature, sheeted in red smock of Murderess. 1857Househ. Words 27 June 605/2 The truck being now sheeted and ticketted. 1860G. J. Whyte-Melville Mkt. Harb. iii, [A racehorse] Clothed and hooded, littered to the hocks, and sheeted to the tail.
2. a. To spread a sheet or layer of some substance upon (a surface); to cover with a sheet (e.g. of snow or ice). (Also with down, up.)
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. iv. 65 When Snow the Pasture sheets. 1807J. Barlow Columb. iii. 368 The sky-borne waters..Veil the dark deep and sheet the mountain's side. 1863W. Lancaster Praeterita 85 The amber daffodils, Sheeting the floors of April. 1882Stevenson New Arab. Nts. II. 106 The flakes were large... The whole city was sheeted up. 1888― Black Arrow iv. i, The snow was falling,..the whole world was blotted out and sheeted down below that silent inundation. 1912Masefield Dauber v. xli, Is it cold? We're sheeted up, I tell you, inches thick.
b. Const. with (the substance of which the layer consists).
1801J. Mollard Art of Cookery (1836) 168 Sheet a mould with paste. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville II. 218 The river was sheeted with ice. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 17 Its roof was sheeted, like St. Peter's, with copper. 1893Times 14 July 3/1 The country is green as a meadow and sheeted with flowers.
†3. To furnish (a bed) with sheets; usually pass. Obs.
1714Mrs. Manley Adv. Rivella 119 A Bed nicely sheeted and strow'd with Roses. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 5 A bed ready sheeted and warmed. 1820in Southey Wesley I. 457 One of the maids, who went up to sheet a bed.
†4. pass. and intr. To bed with. Obs.
1637Whiting Albino & Bellama 72 To be sheeted by Bellama's side. Ibid. 90 To sheet with maidens.
5. intr. To spread or flow in a sheet. Also of rain: to fall in a sheet or sheets (sense 7 b). Freq. with down.
1847Le Fanu T. O'Brien 324 High sheets the water round him in glittering spray. 1871G. MacDonald Wks. of Fancy II. 203 Cataracts sheet..through the air. 1971D. Beaty Temple Tree 9 The monsoon rain was still sheeting down. 1978Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. 2B/1 Bumping over the high noon thunderheads, with rain sheeting across the little round windows, the air passenger over the South Pacific grips the seat arms.
6. trans. to sheet up (see quot.).
1883R. Haldane in Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 141/1 To Sheet-up.—To rub dry with sheets.
▪ IV. sheet, v.2|ʃiːt|
[f. sheet n.2]
trans. to sheet home: to extend the sheets of (the topsails) to the outer extremities of the yards so that the clews are close to the sheet-blocks. Also absol. (and in extended sense, see quot. 1867).
1797S. James Narr. Voy. 227 They sheeted home the topsails. 1833M. Scott Tom Cringle xi. (1859) 265 The topsails were let fall and sheeted home. 1837E. Howard Old Commodore iv, Let us shake out our reefs, sheet home, and away. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Sheet home!.. Also, when driving anything home, as a blow, &c. 1890Morris Glitt. Plain xix, He stepped the mast and hoisted sail, and sheeted home.
Hence ˈsheeted ppl. a.
1821J. Baillie Metr. Leg., Wallace xliii, As sheeted sails, torn by the blast, Flap round some vessel's rocking mast.
▪ V. sheet
see sheath, shoot v., shut. |