sheaf
pronunciation
How to pronounce sheaf in British English:
UK [ʃi:f]
How to pronounce sheaf in American English:
US [ʃif]
-
- Noun:
- a package of several things tied together for carrying or storing
Word Origin
- sheaf (n.)
- Old English sceaf (plural sceafas) "large bundle of corn," from Proto-Germanic *skauf- (cognates: Old Saxon scof, Middle Dutch scoof, Dutch schoof, Old High German scoub "sheaf, bundle," German Schaub "sheaf;" Old Norse skauf "fox's tail;" Gothic skuft "hair on the head," German Schopf "tuft"), from PIE root *(s)keup- "cluster, tuft, hair of the head." Extended to bundles of things other than grain by c. 1300. Also used in Middle English for "two dozen arrows." General sense of "a collection" is from 1728.
Example
- 1. For years the cops sat on a huge sheaf of seized documents and did nothing .
- 2. It also demanded a sheaf of irrelevant documents , such as mr ali 's bank and tax records for the past two years .
- 3. Their mother , who was later diagnosed as schizophrenic , left them pencils and a sheaf of paper with instructions to doodle whenever they felt bored or tempted to roam outside .