Sheaf
[ʃiːf] or [ʃif]
Definition
(n.) A sheave.
(n.) A quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw.
(n.) Any collection of things bound together; a bundle; specifically, a bundle of arrows sufficient to fill a quiver, or the allowance of each archer, -- usually twenty-four.
(v. t.) To gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves; as, to sheaf wheat.
(v. i.) To collect and bind cut grain, or the like; to make sheaves.
Inputed by Hannibal
Definition
n. a quantity of things esp. the stalks of grain put together and bound: a bundle of arrows usually 24 in number: any bundle or collection:—pl. Sheaves (shēvz).—v.t. to bind in sheaves.—v.i. to make sheaves.—adj. Sheaf′y.
Checked by Edwin
Examples
- The young woman turned over a sheaf of counterfoils. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- A large sheaf, but I know there's room in your heart for it, Marmee dear, added Meg's tender voice. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- I held up one of the sheaf of English papers. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- It was a simple mechanism which consisted mainly of two steel fingers that moved back and forth and twisted a wire band around each sheaf of grain. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- When Deering saw the strong steel arms flash a cord around a bundle of grain, tie a knot, cut the cord and fling off the sheaf, he knew he had what the world needed. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- He took a sheaf of worn and greasy forms from his pocket. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Fraulein handed the coffee, everybody smoked cigarettes, or else long warden pipes of white clay, of which a sheaf was provided. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- On the ends of the shafts of the bottom and top rolls there were cylindrical sleeves, or bearings, having seven sheaves in which was run a half-inch endless wire rope. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The car is connected to wire cables passing over large sheaves at the top of the well room to a counterbalancing bucket. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- In this the hoisting cables from which the car is suspended have at the other end a counterweight and pass around driving sheaves in place of a drum. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The next step, and, perhaps the most important one, in the development of the reaper, was in providing automatic devices for binding the gavels of grain into sheaves. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- It worked perfectly, cutting fifty acres of grain and binding it into sheaves. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- On the ends of the shafts of the bottom and top rolls there were cylindrical sleeves, or bearings, having seven sheaves, in which was run a half-inch endless wire rope. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Gorham, who perfected a new twine-binder, and added a device by which all the sheaves bound were turned out in uniform size. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- The first step toward a self-binder was the addition of a foot-board at the back of the reaper, on which a man might stand and fasten the grain into sheaves as it fell. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
Inputed by Enoch