Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.