to insert (a sword, dagger, etc) into its sheath
Patricians, draw your swords, and sheathe them not till Saturninus be Rome's Emperor — Shakespeare
said of an animal, esp a cat: to retract (its claws)
to cover or encase (something) in or as if in a sheath
Her eyes, like marigolds, had sheathed their light — Shakespeare
his legs … being sheathed in bulging leggings — Hardy
I had its big door sheathed with boiler iron — Mark Twain
[Middle English shethen, from shethe sheath]