/ʃiːt/, /ʃit/
OriginFrom Middle English schete; partly from Old English sċīete (“a sheet, a piece of linen cloth”); partly from Old English sċēata (“a corner, angle; the lower corner of a sail, sheet”); and Old English sċēat (“a corner, angle”); all from Proto-Germanic *skautijǭ, *skautaz (“corner, wedge, lap”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to throw, shoot, pursue, rush”).
Cognate with North Frisian skut (“the fold of a garment, lap, coattail”), West Frisian skoat (“sheet; sail; lap”), Dutch schoot (“the fold of a garment, lap, sheet”), German Low German Schote (“a line from the foot of a sail”), German Schoß (“the fold of a garment, lap”), Danish skød (“lap, skirt”), Icelandic skaut (“the corner of a cloth, a line from the foot of a sail, the skirt or sleeve of a garment, a hood”), Norwegian skaut (“headdress”), Swedish sköt (“sheet”).
- A thin bed cloth used as a covering for a mattress or as a layer over the sleeper.
“Use the sheets in the hall closet to make the bed.”
“He fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners.”
“If I do die before thee, prithee, shroud me / In one of those same sheets.”
- A piece of paper, usually rectangular, that has been prepared for writing, artwork, drafting, wrapping, manufacture of packaging (boxes, envelopes, etc.), and for other uses.
“A sheet of paper measuring eight and one-half inches wide by eleven inches high is a popular item in commerce.”
“Paper is designated “20 pound” if a stack (ream) of 500 sheets 22 inches by 17 inches weighs 20 pounds.”
- A flat metal pan, often without raised edge, used for baking.
“Place the rolls on the cookie sheet, edges touching, and bake for 10-11 minutes.”
- A thin, flat piece or layer of solid material.
“The glazer cut several panes from a large sheet of glass.”
“A sheet of that new silicon stuff is as good as a sheet of tinfoil to keep food from sticking in the baking pan.”
- A broad, flat expanse or covering of a material on a surface.
“Mud froze on the road in a solid sheet, then more rain froze into a sheet of ice on top of the mud!”
- An expanse of something.
“[…] heavy sheets of rain with heavy gusts at N.E.; […]”
“... sheets of fire could be seen. The air became intensely hot and they knew that the forest-fire was upon them.”
“... sheets of light which appear to be formed by a source at one location for horizontal sheets and another location for vertical sheets . This is the direct result of the relative displacement of the”
- A line (rope) used to adjust the trim of a sail.
“To be "three sheets to the wind" is to say that a four-cornered sail is tethered only by one sheet and thus the sail is useless.”
- nonstandardA sail.
“Their folded Sheets dismiss the useless Air”
- The area of ice on which the game of curling is played.
- nonstandardA layer of veneer.
- figurativelyPrecipitation of such quantity and force as to resemble a thin, virtually solid wall.
- An extensive bed of an eruptive rock intruded between, or overlying, other strata.
- The space in the forward or after part of a boat where there are no rowers.
“fore sheets; stern sheets”
- datedA distinct level or stage within a game.
“The gecko moves from left to right and you must catch him when he calls. […] On the second sheet you must stand under the Gecko in the tree and jump, and on the third sheet you must catch the Gecko's ”
“If you land safely you will gain 30 extra points and move to the next sheet.”
“What distinguishes Eskimo Eddie from the others is that it has two totally different sheets in the game. […] In the first sheet, Frogger style, you have to rescue Percy penguin from Growler the bear.”
- euphemistic, form-of, slang, uncountableEuphemistic form of shit.
“This sheet is disgusting!”
- transitiveTo cover or wrap with cloth, or paper, or other similar material.
“Remember to sheet the floor before you start painting.”
“Yea, like a stag, when snow the pasture sheets, / The barks of trees thou browsed'st.”
- transitiveTo form into sheets.
- intransitiveTo pour heavily.
“We couldn't go out because the rain was sheeting down all day long.”
- To trim a sail using a sheet.
- A village and civil parish in East Hampshire district, Hampshire, England, previously in Petersfield parish (OS grid ref SU7524).
- A small village in Ludford parish, next to Ludlow, Shropshire, England (OS grid ref SO5374).
Formssheets(plural) · sheets(present, singular, third-person) · sheeting(participle, present) · sheeted(participle, past) · sheeted(past)