sheaf

See also: sheave

English

Etymology

From Middle English scheef, from Old English sċēaf, from Proto-West Germanic *skaub, from Proto-Germanic *skauba- (“sheaf”).

Cognates

Akin to West Frisian skeaf (“sheaf”), Dutch schoof (“sheaf”), German Schaub, Old Norse skauf (“a fox's tail”). Compare further Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐍆𐍄 (skuft, “hair of the head”), German Schopf (“tuft”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: shēf, IPA^(key): /ʃiːf/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːf

Sheaves

Noun

sheaf (plural sheaves or sheafs)

1. A quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw.

   Synonym: reap

   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], line 70:

     O, let me teach you how to knit again / This scattered corn into one mutual sheaf, / These broken limbs again into one body.

   • 1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 60, lines 429–430:

     Ev’n while the Reaper fills his greedy hands, / And binds the golden Sheafs in brittle bands

2. Any collection of things bound together.

   Synonym: bundle

   a sheaf of paper

   • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

     Together the two men march up the aisle and mount the dais, and while Muspole shakes hands with the chairman and his lady, the major draws a sheaf of notes from a briefcase and lays them on the table.

3. A bundle of arrows sufficient to fill a quiver, or the allowance of each archer.
   • 1700, John Dryden, Palamon and Arcite:

     The sheaf of arrows shook, and rattled in the case.

4. A quantity of arrows, usually twenty-four.
   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 34:

     Arrows were anciently made of reeds, afterwards of cornel wood, and occasionally of every species of wood: but according to Roger Ascham, ash was best; arrows were reckoned by sheaves, a sheaf consisted of twenty-four arrows.

5. (mechanical) A sheave.
6. (mathematics) An abstract construct in topology that associates data to the open sets of a topological space (i.e. a presheaf) in such a way so as to make the local and global data compatible, generalizing the situation of functions, fiber bundles, manifold structure, etc. on a topological space. Formally, a presheaf ${\mathcal {F}}$ whose sections are, in a technical sense, uniquely determined by their restrictions onto smaller sets: that is, given an open cover $\{U_{i}\}$ of $U$:
   1. If two sections over $U$ agree under restriction to every $U_{i}$, then the sections are the same.
   2. Given a family of sections $s_{i}\in {\mathcal {F}}(U_{i})$ such that all pairs $(s_{i},s_{j})$ agree under restriction to $U_{i}\cap U_{j}$, there is a (unique) section $s$ over $U$ whose restriction to $U_{i}$ is $s_{i}$.

Derived terms

• indsheaf
• sheafwise

Translations

bundle of grain or straw

• Arabic: حُزْمَة f (ḥuzma)
• Armenian: խուրձ (hy) (xurj), կապուկ (hy) (kapuk), շալակ (hy) (šalak), տրցակ (hy) (trcʻak)
• Aromanian: mãnuclju n
• Belarusian: сноп m (snop), вяза́нка f (vjazánka)
• Bulgarian: сноп (bg) m (snop)
• Catalan: garba (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 束 (zh) (shù)

• Chuvash: кӗлте (kĕlt̬e)
• Czech: snop (cs) m
• Dalmatian: falja
• Danish: neg
• Dutch: schoof (nl)
• Esperanto: garbo
• Faroese: bundi n
• Finnish: lyhde (fi)
• French: gerbe (fr) f
• Galician: feixe (gl) m, mollo (gl) m, gavela f, monllo (gl) m
• Georgian: ძნა (ʒna), კონა (ḳona)
• German: Garbe (de) f
• Greek: δεμάτι (el) n (demáti)

  Ancient: δράγμα n (drágma), ἄμαλλα f (ámalla)

• Hungarian: kéve (hu)
• Ingrian: lyhe, vihko, kupo
• Irish: punann f
• Italian: covone m, fascio (it) m, mazzo (it) m, balla (it) f, mannello (it) m, frecce (it) f pl
• Japanese: 束 (ja) (たば, taba)
• Komi-Permyak: кольта (koľta)
• Korean: 단 (ko) (dan)
• Latgalian: kiuļs, snaps
• Latin: merges f, manipulus m, (Medieval) garba f
• Latvian: kūlis (lv) m
• Macedonian: сноп m (snop)
• Norwegian: nek (no)
• Persian: بسک (fa) (bask)
• Plautdietsch: Goaw f
• Polish: snop (pl) m
• Portuguese: gavela (pt) f
• Romanian: mănunchi (ro) n, fascicul (ro) n, legătură (ro) f
• Russian: сноп (ru) m (snop), вяза́нка (ru) f (vjazánka)
• Scots: stook
• Scottish Gaelic: sguab f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сноп m

  Roman: snop (sh) m

• Slovak: snop m
• Slovene: snop m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: snop m

• Spanish: haz (es) m, atado (es) m, atada (es) f, mies (es) f, gavilla (es) f
• Swahili: mganda
• Swedish: kärve (sv), sädeskärve c
• Udmurt: культо (kuľto)
• Ukrainian: сніп m (snip), в'яза́нка (uk) f (vʺjazánka)
• Walloon: djåbe (wa) f
• Welsh: ysgub (cy) f
• Yiddish: גאַרב m (garb), סנאָפּ m (snop)

any collection of things bound together; a bundle

• Armenian: կապոց (hy) (kapocʻ), փաթեթ (hy) (pʻatʻetʻ), կապ (hy) (kap)
• Bulgarian: връзка (bg) f (vrǎzka)
• Catalan: feix (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 捆 (zh) (kǔn)

• Czech: svazek (cs) m
• Dutch: bundel (nl) m
• Finnish: nippu (fi)
• French: faisceau (fr) m, liasse (fr) f
• German: Bündel (de) n
• Greek: δέσμη (el) f (désmi)
• Italian: fascio (it) m, mazzo (it) m, fascicolo (it) m, raccolta (it) f
• Maori: kākati
• Plautdietsch: Goaw f
• Portuguese: feixe (pt) m, lio (pt) m
• Russian: свя́зка (ru) f (svjázka), па́чка (ru) f (páčka), пучо́к (ru) m (pučók)
• Spanish: atado (es) m, atada (es) f
• Swedish: bunt (sv)
• Welsh: sypyn m

sheave — see sheave

mathematical construct

• Bulgarian: сноп (bg) m (snop)
• Catalan: feix (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 層／层 (zh) (céng)

• Danish: knippe (da) n
• Dutch: schoof (nl)
• Finnish: lyhde (fi)
• French: faisceau (fr) m
• German: Garbe (de) f
• Hungarian: kéve (hu)
• Italian: fascio (it) m
• Japanese: 層 (ja) (そう, sō)
• Korean: 층 (ko) (cheung)
• Norwegian: knippe n
• Portuguese: feixe (pt)
• Russian: пучо́к (ru) m (pučók)
• Serbo-Croatian: snop (sh) m
• Spanish: haz (es) m
• Swedish: kärve (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} עמר (he) (omer)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 단 (ko) (dan), ^{(please verify)} 다발 (ko) (dabal)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} fibrilla f

Verb

sheaf (third-person singular simple present sheafs, present participle sheafing, simple past and past participle sheafed)

1. (transitive) To gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves

   to sheaf wheat

2. (intransitive) To collect and bind cut grain, or the like; to make sheaves.
   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], line 107:

     They that reap must sheaf and bind; Then to cart with Rosalind.

Anagrams

• SHAEF, Shefa