Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SHEAR-ER, n.

One that shears; as, a shearer of sheep. – Milton.

SHEARING, n.

The act of shearing.

SHEAR-ING, ppr.

Clipping; depriving of wool, hair or am.

SHEAR-LING, n.

A sheep that has been but once sheared.

SHEAR-MAN, n.

One whose occupation is to shear cloth.

SHEARS, n. [plur. from the verb.]

1. An instrument consisting of two blades with a bevel edge, movable on a pin, used for cutting cloth and other substances by interception between the two blades. Shears differ from scissors chiefly in being larger. Fate urg'd the shears and cut the sylph in twain. – Pope.
2. Something in the form of the blades of shears.
3. Wings. [Not in use.] – Spenser.
4. An engine for raising heavy weights. [See Sheers.]
5. The denomination of the age of sheep from the cutting of the teeth; as, sheep of one shear, two shear, &c. [Local.]

SHEAR-WATER, n.

A fowl, [Larus niger.] – Ainsworth. A species of petrel, [Procellaria puffinus, Linn.] found on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. – Encyc. The cut-water, [Rhyncops nigra.] – Bartram.

SHEAT, n. [or v. See SHEET.]

SHEAT-FISH, n. [G. scheide, Cuvier.]

A fish, a species of Silurus, having a long slimy body destitute of scales, and the back dusky, like that of the eel. – Dict. Nat. Hist.

SHEATH, n. [Sax. sceath, scæthe; G. scheide; D. scheede; from separating, G. scheiden, D. scheien; Sax. sceadan. See Shade.]

1. A case for the reception of a sword or other long and slender instrument; a scabbard. A sheath is that which separates, and hence a defense.
2. In botany, a membrane investing a stem or branch, as in grasses. – Martyn.
3. Any thin covering for defense; the wing-case of an insect.

SHEATHE, v.t.

1. To put into a case or scabbard; as, to sheathe a sword or dagger.
2. To inclose or cover with a sheath or case. The leopard … keeps the claws of his fore feet turned up from the ground, and sheathed in the skin of his toes. – Grew. 'Tis in my breast she sheathed her dagger now. – Dryden.
3. To cover or line; as, to sheathe the bowels with demulcent or mucilaginous substances.
4. To obtund or blunt, as acrimonious or sharp particles. – Arbuthnot.
5. To fit with a sheath. – Shak.
6. To case or cover with boards or with sheets of copper; as, to sheathe a ship to preserve it from the worms. To sheathe the sword, a figurative phrase, to put an end to war or enmity; to snake peace. It corresponds to the Indian phrase, to bury the hatchet.

SHEATH-ED, pp.

1. Put in a sheath; inclosed or covered with a case; covered; lined; invested with a membrane.
2. adj. In botany, vaginate; invested by a sheath or cylindrical membranaceous tube, which is the base of the leaf, as the stalk or culm in grasses. – Martyn.

SHEATH-ER, n.

One that sheathes.

SHEATH-ING, n.

The casing or covering of a ship's bottom and sides; or the materials for such covering.

SHEATH-ING, ppr.

Putting in a sheath; inclosing in a case; covering; lining; investing with a membrane.

SHEATH-LESS, a.

Without a sheath or case for covering; unsheathed. – Percy's Masque.

SHEATH-WING-ED, a. [sheath and wing.]

Having cases for covering the wings; as, a sheath-winged insect. Brown.

SHEATH-Y, a.

Forming a sheath or case. Brown.

SHEAVE, n. [In D. schyf is a slice, a truckle, a quoit, a fillet, a draughtsman, a pane. In G. scheibe is a mark, a pane, a wheel, the knee-pan, a slice.]

In seamen's language, a wheel on which the rope works in a block. It is made of hard wood or of metal. When made of wood, it is sometimes bushed, that is, has a piece of perforated brass let into its center, the better to sustain the friction of the pin. – Mar. Dict.

SHEAVE, v.t.

To bring together; to collect. [Not in use.] – Ashmole.

SHEAV-ED, a.

Made of straw. [Not in use.] – Shak.

SHEAVE-HOLE, n.

A channel cut in a mast, yard or other timber, in which to fix a sheave. – Mar. Dict.

SHECK'LA-TON, n. [Fr. ciclaton. Chalmers.]

A kind of gilt leather. [Not in use.] – Spenser.

SHED, n. [Sax. sced, a shade; Sw. skydd, a defense; skydda, to protect, to defend or shelter; Dan. skytter, id.; skytter, a shooter; skyts, a defense; skyt, a gun; skyder, to shoot; G. schützen, to defend; schütze, a shooter; D. schutten, to defend, to parry or stop; schutter, a shooter. It appears that shed, the noun and verb, and shoot, are from one source, and shade, scud, scath, and several other words, when traced, all terminate in the same radical sense, to thrust, rush or drive.]

1. A slight building; a covering of timber and boards, &c: for shelter against rain and the inclemencies of weather; a poor house or hovel; as, a horse-shed. The first Aletes born in lowly shed. – Fairfax. Sheds of reeds which summer's heat repel. – Sandys.
2. In composition, effusion; as in blood-shed. [See the Verb.]

SHED, v.i.

To let fall its parts. White oats are apt to shed most as they lie, and black as they stand. – Mortimer.