sheet 
foldan sctdt, & portion of the earth, a region, 
the earth; sx seedt, a portion of the sea, a 
gulf, bay, etc.), = OFries. skat, xclidt, tlie fold 
of a garment, the lap, = D. sellout = MLG. 
se/io<= OHG. sco:, also score, seosa, MHG. sclio:, 
G. schoss, scliooss, the fold of a garment, lap, 
bosom, = Icel. shout, the corner of a square 
cloth or other object, a corner or quarter of 
the earth or heavens, a line from the foot of a 
sail, the skirt or sleeve of a garment, the lap, 
bosom, a hood, = Sw. sk&te = Dan. skjod, the 
flap of a coat, the lap, bosom, = Goth, skauts, 
the hem of a garment ; appar. orig. in sense of 
'projecting corner,' so called as jutting out, or 
less prob. from the resemblance to the head of 
a spear or arrow (cf . gore 2 , a triangular piece 
of cloth or ground, ult. < AS. gar, spear) ; from 
the root of AS. sceotan (pret. sccdt), etc., shoot : 
see shoot. The forms of these three groups 
show mixture with each other and with forms 
of shoot, n., and shot 1 , >i.] 1. A large square 
or rectangular piece of linen or cotton spread 
over a bed, under the covers, next to the sleeper: 
as, to sleep between sheets. 
Se the shetes be fayre & swete, or elles loke ye have dene 
shetes ; than make up his bedde manerly. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 283. 
Ne shetis clene to lye betwene, 
Made of thred and twyne. 
The Nutbroime Maide (Child's Ballads, IV. 151). 
How bravely thou becoiuest thy bed, fresh lily, 
And whiter than the sheets ! 
Shak., Cymbeline, ii. 2. 15. 
2. In general, a broad, usually flat, and rela- 
tively thin piece of anything, either very flex- 
ible, as linen, paper, etc., or less flexible, or 
rigid, as lead, tin, iron, glass, etc. (a plate). 
Oure lady her hede sehe schette In a schete, 
And ,;it lay still doted and dased, 
As a womman mapped and mased. 
Iloly Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 216. 
(a) One of the separate pieces, of definite size, in which 
paper is made ; the twenty-fourth part of a quire. In the 
printing-trade the sheet is more clearly defined by naming 
its size : as, a sheet of cap or a sheet of royal (see sizes of 
paper, under paper) ; in bookbinding the sheet is further 
defined by specifying its fold : as, a sheet of quarto or a 
sheet of duodecimo. 
I would I were so good an alchemist to persuade you 
that all the virtue of the best affections that one could 
express in a sheet were in this rag of paper. 
Donne, Letters, xxxiii. 
(lit A newspaper : so called as being usually printed on a 
large piece of paper and folded. 
That guilty man would fain have made a shroud of his 
Morning Herald. lie would have flung the sheet over his 
whole body, and lain hidden there from all eyes. 
Thackeray, Philip, xvi. 
(o) t>f. Leaves and pages, as of a book or a pamphlet. 
[Rare.] 
In sacred sheets of either Testament 
'Tis hard to flnde a higher Argument. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 1. 
The following anecdote is also related of him, but with 
what degree of truth the editor of these sheets will not 
pretend to determine. Life of Quin (reprint 1887), p. 23. 
(d) In math., a separate portion of a surface, analogous 
to the branch of a curve ; especially, one of the planes of 
a Riemann's surface. 
{Sheet is often used in composition to denote that the sub- 
stance to the name of which it is prefixed is in the form of 
sheets or thin plates: as, sheet-iron, sheet-gives, iheet-tln.] 
3. A broad expanse or surface : as, a sheet of 
water, of ice, or of flame. 
Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder. 
Shut., Lear, iii. 2. 46. 
We behold our orchard-trees covered with a white sheet 
of bloom in the spring. 
Darwin, Cross and Self Fertilisation, p. 400. 
When the river and bay are as smooth as a sheet of 
beryl-green silk. 0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, p. 196. 
4t. A sail. 
A deeper Sea I now perforce must saile, 
And lay my sheats ope to a freer gale. 
Heywood, Anna and Phillis. 
5. Naut., a rope or chain fastened to one or both 
of the lower corners of a sail to extend it and 
hold it extended, or to change its direction. 
In the square sails above the courses the ropes by which 
the clues are extended are called sheets. In the courses 
each clue has both a tack and a sheet the tack being 
used to extend the weather clue and the sheet the lee 
clue. In fore-and-aft sails except gaff-topsails, where 
the reverse is the case the sheet secures the after lower 
corner and the tack the forward lower corner. In stud- 
dingsails the tack secures the outer clue and the sheet the 
inner one. 
6. In (mat. and zool., a layer; a lamina or la- 
mella, as of any membranous tissue. 7. In 
mining, galena in thin and continuous masses. 
The ore itself is frequently called sheet-mineral. 
[Upper Mississippi lead region.] Advance- 
sheets. See advance. n., 6. A sheet in the Wind, 
somewhat tipsy ; fuddled ; hence, to be or have three 
sheets in the wind, to be very tipsy or drunk. 
5563 
Though S. might be a thought tipsy a sheet or so in 
the u-ind he was not more tipsy than was customary with 
him. He talked a great deal about propriety and steadi- 
ness, . . . but seldom went up to the town without coming 
down three sheets in the wind. 
R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 185. 
Flat sheets. See blanket-depottit. Flowing sheets. 
Hee flowing. In sheets, not folded, or folded but not 
bound : said especially of printed pages : as, a copy of a 
book in sheets. Oiled sheets. See oil. Set-off sheet. 
See set-off. Sheet and a half, in printing, a sheet of pa- 
per, or a folded section, which contains one half more pa- 
per or pages than the regular sheet or section. To flow 
a Jib or staysail sheet. Seeytowi. To gather aft a 
sheet, see gather. To haul the sheets flat aft. See 
flatl. 
sheet 1 (shet), r. t. [< sheet 1 , n.~\ 1. To furnish 
with sheets: as, a sheeted couch. 2. To fold 
in a sheet; shroud; cover with or as with a 
sheet. 
Like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets, 
The bark of trees thou browsed'st. 
Shak., A. and C., i. 4. 66. 
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, 
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead 
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets. 
Shak., Hamlet, i. 1. 115. 
The strong door sheeted with iron the rugged stone 
stairs. Bvlwer, My Novel, xii. 5. 
3. To form into sheets ; arrange in or as in 
sheets. 
Then sheeted rain burst down, and whirlwinds howl'd 
aloud. 
Scott, Vision of Don Roderick, The Vision, st. 3. 
To sheet home (naut.). See home, adv. 
Our topsails had been sheeted home, the head yards 
braced aback, the fore-topmast staysail hoisted, and the 
buoys streamed. B. U. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 70. 
sheet 2 (shet). An old variant of sltoot, used in 
sheet-anchor, and common in dialectal speech. 
sheet-anchor (shet'ang'kgr), n. [Formerly also 
shoot-anchor, shoot-anker, shot-anchor; lit. an- 
chor to be 'shot' out or suddenly lowered in 
case of great danger ; < shoot, sheet*, + anchor 1 .] 
1 . One of two anchors, carried on shores in the 
waist, outside, abaft the fore-rigging, and used 
only in cases of emergency. The sheet-anchors were 
formerly the heaviest anchors carried, but they are now of 
the same weight as the bowers. 
Hence 2. Figuratively, chief dependence; 
main reliance ; last resort. 
This saying they make their shoot-anker. 
Cranmer, Ans. to Gardiner, p. 117. 
sheet-bend (shet'bend), n. Naut., a bend very 
commonly used for fastening two ropes to- 
gether. It is made by passing the end of one rope up 
through the bight of another, round both parts of the 
bight, and under its own part. 
Sheet-cable (shet'ka/bl), n. The chain-cable 
belonging to or used with the sheet-anchor. 
Also called sheet-chain. 
sheet-calender (shet'kaFen-der), n. A form 
of calendering-machine in which rubber, paper, 
and other materials are pressed into sheets 
and surfaced. E. H. Knight. 
sheet-copper (shet'kop'er), n. Copper in sheets 
or broad thin plates. 
sheet-delivery (shet'de-liv"er-i), . In print- 
ing, the act or process of delivering the printed 
sheet from the form to the fly. E. H, Knight. 
sheeted (she'ted), p. a. [< sheet 1 + -ed%.~\ 1. 
Having a broad white band or patch around 
the body: said of a beast, as a cow. 2. In 
printing, noting presswork which requires the 
placing of a clean sheet over every printed 
sheet to prevent the offset of moist ink. 
sheetent (she'tn), it. [< sheet 1 + -en 2 .] Made 
of sheeting. 
Or wanton rigg, or letcher dissolute, 
Do stand at Powles-Crosse in a sheeten Bute. 
Dames, Paper's Complaint, 1. 250. (Daties.) 
sheet-glass (shet'glas), . A kind of crown- 
glass made at first in the form of a cylinder, 
which is cut longitudinally and placed in a fur- 
nace, where it opens out into a sheet. sheet- 
glass machine, a machine for forming glass in a plastic 
state into a sheet. It consists of an inclined table, on 
which the molten glass is poured, with adjustable pieces 
on the sides of the table to regulate the width of the 
layer. From the table the sheet of glass passes to rollers, 
which bring it to the desired thickness. 
sheeting (she'ting), n. [< sheet 1 + -ing 1 .] 1. 
The act or process of forming into sheets or ar- 
ranging in sheets : as, the sheeting of tobacco. 
2. Stout white linen or cotton cloth made wide 
for bed-sheets : it is sold plain or twilled, and 
bleached or unbleached. 3. Inhydraul. engin., 
a lining of timber to a caisson or coffer-dam, 
formed of sheet-piles, or piles with planking 
between; also, any form of sheet-piling used 
to protect a river-bank. 4. In milit. engin., 
short pieces of plank used in conjunction with 
shekel 
frames to support the earth forming the top 
and sides of galleries Calico sheeting, cotton 
cloth used for bed-sheets. [Eng.] 
sheeting-machine (she'ting-ma-shen"), ii. A 
wool-combing machine. 
sheeting-pile (she'ting-pil), . Same as sli<-i-/- 
pile. 
sheet-iron (shet'i'ern), H. Iron in sheets or 
broad thin plates. 
sheet-lead (shet'led'), n. See lead 2 . 
sheet-lightning (shet'lit-ning), n. See 'light- 
ning 1 , 2. 
No pale sheet-lightnings from afar, but fork'd 
Of the near storm, and aiming at his head. 
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field. 
sheet-metal (shet'met"al), n. Metal in sheets 
or thin plates Sheet-metal die, one of a pair of 
formers between which sheet-metal is pressed into vari- 
ous shapes. Sheet-metal drawing-press, a form of 
stamping-machiue for forming seamless articles from 
sheet-metal. Sheet-metal gage, a gage, usually work- 
ing by a screw, for measuring the thickness of sheet-metal. 
Sheet-metal polisher, a machine with scouring sur- 
faces, between which metallic plates are passed to remove 
scale or foreign matters preparatory to tinning, painting, 
etc. Sheet-metal scourer, a machine in which sheet- 
metal is scoured by means of wire brushes, and polished 
by rollers covered with an elastic or fibrous material and 
carrying sand. Sheet-metal Btraightener, a machine 
for straightening sheet-metal by the action of rollers or 
pressure surfaces applied transversely to the bend or 
buckle of the plate. 
sheet-mineral (shet'min // e-ral), . A name 
given to galena when occurring in thin sheet- 
like masses, especially in the upper Mississippi 
lead region. See sheet 1 , 7. 
sheefr^pile (shet'pil), . A pile, generally formed 
of thick plank shot or jointed on the edge, and 
sometimes grooved and tongued, driven be- 
tween the main or gage piles of a coffer-dam or 
other hydraulic work, either to retain or to ex- 
clude water, as the case may be. Also sheeting- 
pile. See cut under sea-wall. 
Sheet-work (shet'werk), n. In printing, press- 
work in which the sheet is printed on one side 
by one form of type, and on the other side by 
another form : in contradistinction to. half-sheet 
work, in which the sheet is printed on both 
sides from the same form. 
sheeve, n. See sheared 
shefet, n. An obsolete form of sheaf 1 . 
sheik, sheikh (shek or shak), . [Also scheik, 
shaik, sheyk, sheykh, shaykh, formerly sheck; = 
OF. esceque, seic, F. cheik, scheik, cheikh = G. 
scheik = Turk, sheykh, < Ar. sheikh, a chief, 
shaykh, a venerable old man, lit. 'old' or 'elder' 
(used like L. senior: see senior, sire, seigneur, 
etc.), < shdkha, grow old, be old.] In Arabia 
and other Mohammedan countries, an old man ; 
an elder, (a) The head of a tribe or village ; a chief. 
Here wee should have paid two dollars apeice for our 
heads to a Sheck of the Arabs. Sandys, Travailes, p. 119. 
We may hope for some degree of settled government 
from the native sultans and sheikhs of the great tribes. 
Nineteenth Century, XXVI. 862. 
I resolved to take a Berberi, and accordingly summoned 
a Shaykh there is a Shaykh for everything down to 
thieves in Asia and made known my want. 
B. F. Burton, EMIedinah, p. 62. 
(b) A religions chief among Mohammedans ; a title of 
learned or devout men ; master. Sheik ul Islam, the 
title of the grand mufti at Constantinople, the chief au- 
thority in matters of sacred law of the Turkish empire ; 
the presiding official of the hierarchy of Moslem doctors 
of law. 
Sheil, shelling, M. Same as slieaft. 
shekarry (she-kar'i), n. See shikaree. 
shekel (shek' el), n. [Formerly also side (< F.) ; 
= D. sikkel = G. Sw. Dan. sekel = Icel. .tikill, < 
OF. side, cide, F. side = Sp. Pg. It. siclo, < LL. 
sidtis, < Gr. <r?.of, aiytos, a Hebrew shekel, a 
weight and a coin (expressed by 6i6pax/u>v in 
the Septuagint, but equal to 4 Attic opaxpnl in 
Josephus; the Persian oiy'/.of was one three- 
thousandth part of the Babylonian talent), < 
Heb. sheqel, a shekel (weight), < shdqal, As- 
syrian shdqual = Ar. tliaqal, weigh.] i. A 
unit of weight first used in Babylonia, and 
there equal to one sixtieth part of a mina. As 
there were two Assyrian minas, so there were two shekels, 
one of 17 grams (258 grains troy), the other of 8.4 grams 
(129 grains). A trade shekel had a weight of 8.2 grams 
(127 grains). Modified both in value and in its relation 
to the iiiitiit, the shekel was adopted by the Phenicians, 
Hebrews, and other peoples. There were many differ- 
ent Phenician shekels, varying through 15.2 grains (234 
grains), 14.5 grams (224 grains), 14.1 grams (218 grains), 
down to 13.5 grams (208 grains). The Hebrew shekel, at 
least under the Maccabees, was 14.1 grams. See also 
siglos. 
2. The chief silver coin of the Jews, probably 
first coined in 141 B. c. by Simon Maccabseus. 
Obverse, " Shekel of Israel," pot of manna or a sacred ves- 
sel; reverse, "Jerusalem the holy," flower device, sup- 
