sheet1 (shet)

[Under this form (early mod. E. also she at ) are merged three words of different formation, but of the same radical origin: ( a ) G. schote, a line from the foot of a sail; il; the preceding being secondary forms of the more orig. noun; (c) sheet fold an sceát, a portion of the earth, a region, the earth; sæs sceát, a portion of the sea, a gulf, bay, etc.), = OFries. skat, schat, the fold of a garment, the lap, = D. schoot = MLG. schōt =OHG. scōz, also scōzo, scōza, MHG. schöz, G. scho , schoo , the fold of a garment, lap, bosom, = Icel. skaut, 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. sköte = Dan. skjöd, 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 le prob. from the resemblance to the head of a spear or arrow (cf. gore2, a triangular piece of cloth or ground, ult. Se the shetes be fayre & swete, or elles loke ye have clene shetes; than make up his bedde manerly. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 283. Ne shet is clene to lye betwene, Made of thred and twyne. The Nutbrowne Maide (Child's Ballads, IV. 151). How bravely thou becomest thy bed, fresh lily, And whiter than the sheets! linen, paper, Shak ., Cymbeline, ii. 2. 15. 2. In general, a broad, usually flat, and relatively thin piece of anything, either very flexible, as or as lead, tin, iron, gla , etc. (a plate). Oure lady her hede sche schette in a schete, And zit lay still doted and dased, As a womman mapped and mased. Holy 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 expre in a sheet were in this rag of paper. Donne , Letters, xxxiii. (b) 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. He would have flung the sheet over his whole body, and lain hidden there from all eyes. Thackeray , Philip, xvi. (c) pl . Leaves and pages, as of a book or a pamphlet. [Rare.] IMG:content-0836.png:[blocks in formation] 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 studdingsails the tack secures the outer clue and the sheet the inner one. 6. In an at. and zoöl., a layer; a lamina or lamella, as of any membranous ti ue.-7. In mining, galena in thin and continuous ma es. The ore itself is frequently called sheet - mineral. [Upper Mi i ippi 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 wind -he was not more tipsy than was customary with him. He talked a great deal about propriety and steadine ,... but seldom went up to the town without coming down three sheets in the wind. R. H. Dana , Jr. , Before the Mast, p. 185. shekel IMG:content-0837.png:[blocks in formation] a jib or staysail sheet. See flow1. - To gather aft a sheet. See gather. - To haul the sheets flat aft. See flat . sheet1 (shēt), v . t. [ 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., 1. 4. 65. IMG:content-0838.png:[blocks in formation] Then sheeted rain burst down, and whirlwinds howl'd Scott, Vision of Don Roderick, The Vision, st. 36. 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. R. H. Dana , Jr., Before the Mast, p. 70. sheet - anchor , and common in dialectal speech. sheet-anchor (shēt'ang"kor), n . [Formerly also shoot-anchor, shoot-anker, shot - anchor ; lit. anchor to be 'shot' out or suddenly lowered in case of great danger; shoot , sheet2 , + anchor1 .] 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.