sheath
pronunciation
How to pronounce sheath in British English:
UK [ʃi:θ]
How to pronounce sheath in American English:
US [ʃiθ]
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- Noun:
- a protective covering for a knife or sword
- an enveloping structure or covering enclosing an animal or plant organ or part
- a dress suitable for formal occasions
Word Origin
- sheath
- sheath: [OE] A sheath is probably etymologically a ‘split stick’. The word comes from a prehistoric Germanic *skaithiz, which also produced German scheide, Dutch schede, and Danish skede. This seems to have been derived from the base *skaith ‘divide, split’ (source also of English shed ‘give off, drop’ and ski), in which case the notion underlying it would have been of a stick split open so that a sword blade could be inserted into it.=> shed, ski
- sheath (n.)
- Old English sceað, scæð, from Proto-Germanic *skaithiz (cognates: Old Saxon scethia, Old Norse skeiðir (plural), Old Frisian skethe, Middle Dutch schede, Dutch schede, Old High German skaida, German scheide "a sheath, scabbard"), according to OED, possibly from root *skei- "divide, split" (see shed (v.)) on notion of a split stick with the sword blade inserted. Meaning "condom" is recorded from 1861; sense of "close-fitting dress or skirt" is attested from 1904.
Example
- 1. Its researchers have turned them into a type of cell that produces the insulating sheath around a nerve cell .
- 2. Aerosol jet at first atomises nanoparticle-based print materials into microscopic droplets , which are then focused , using a sheath of gas , into a precise jet stream directed by a nozzle .
- 3. Whenever there 's a nick or hairline crack in an insulation sheath , the electrical field in the underlying copper subtly shifts .
- 4. Special kinds ofsteel , natural initial corrosion of the outer layer creates a protective sheath , that prevents the corrosion from advancing further into the bulk of the material , similarly as in the case of e.g. copper .
- 5. Despite its bad reputation , cholesterol is essential to life : it is a building block of the outer membrane of cells , and it is a principal ingredient in the digestive juice bile , in the fatty sheath that insulates nerves , and in sex hormones such as estrogen and androgen .