sheet

From 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”), Swedish sköt (“sheet”), Icelandic skaut (“the corner of a cloth, a line from the foot of a sail, the skirt or sleeve of a garment, a hood”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ʃiːt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ʃit/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sheet
• Rhymes: -iːt

sheet (plural sheets)

1. 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.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 10:10-11:

     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.

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     If I do die before thee, prithee, shroud me / In one of those same sheets.

2. 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. The word does not include scraps and irregular small pieces destined to be recycled, used for stuffing or cushioning or paper mache, etc. In modern books, each sheet of paper is typically folded in half, to produce two leaves and four pages. In the absence of folding, "leaf" and "sheet" are equivalent.

   Holonyms: signature, quire

   Meronyms: leaf, folium, page

   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.

3. 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.

4. A thin, flat 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.

5. A broad, flat expanse 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!

6. (nautical) 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.

7. (nautical, nonstandard) A sail.
   • 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

     Their folded Sheets dismiss the useless Air

8. (curling) The area of ice on which the game of curling is played.
9. (nonstandard) A layer of veneer.
10. (figuratively) Precipitation of such quantity and force as to resemble a thin, virtually solid wall.
11. (geology) An extensive bed of an eruptive rock intruded between, or overlying, other strata.
12. (nautical) The space in the forward or after part of a boat where there are no rowers.

    fore sheets; stern sheets

13. (video games, dated) A distinct level or stage within a game.
    • 1983, "Program Printout: Gecko" (in Sinclair User, issue 21, page 95)

      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 friend.

    • 1984 February, Sinclair Programs:

      If you land safely you will gain 30 extra points and move to the next sheet.

    • 1984, Chris Passey, Matthew Uffindell, “Run It Again”, in Crash‎, number 4:

      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.

14. (euphemistic, slang) Shit (the taboo swear word)

    This Sheet is disgusting!

• (piece of paper): page
• (line): rope
• (expanse of material): blanket, coat, coating, layer

• (thin layer of solid material): film
• (expanse of material): film

• hit the sheets
• three sheets to the wind
• under the sheets
• white as a sheet

sheet (third-person singular simple present sheets, present participle sheeting, simple past and past participle sheeted)

1. (transitive) To cover or wrap with cloth, or paper, or other similar material.

   Remember to sheet the floor before you start painting.

   • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

     Yea, like a stag, when snow the pasture sheets, / The barks of trees thou browsed'st.

2. (transitive) To form into sheets.
3. (intransitive) Of rain, or other precipitation, to pour heavily.

   We couldn't go out because the rain was sheeting down all day long.

4. (nautical) To trim a sail using a sheet.

• sheet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “sheet”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• seeth, thees, these