SHEATHE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sheathe mean? 

• SHEATHE (verb)
  The verb SHEATHE has 3 senses:

1. cover with a protective sheathing

2. enclose with a sheath

3. plunge or bury (a knife or sword) in flesh

  Familiarity information: SHEATHE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHEATHE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sheathe    ... he / she / it sheathes   
Past simple: sheathed   
Past participle: sheathed   
-ing form: sheathing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cover with a protective sheathing

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

sheathe her face

Hypernyms (to "sheathe" is one way to...):

cover (provide with a covering or cause to be covered)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sheathe"):

invaginate (sheathe)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

sheathing (protective covering consisting, for example, of a layer of boards applied to the studs and joists of a building to strengthen it and serve as a foundation for a weatherproof exterior)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Enclose with a sheath

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

sheathe a sword

Hypernyms (to "sheathe" is one way to...):

enclose; enfold; envelop; enwrap; wrap (enclose or enfold completely with or as if with a covering)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

unsheathe (draw from a sheath or scabbard)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Plunge or bury (a knife or sword) in flesh

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "sheathe" is one way to...):

immerse; plunge (thrust or throw into)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

“So ends our quarrel, then,” said Aylward, sheathing his sword.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

These organisms are motile by bipolar, sheathed flagella and are composed of ten species of Helicobacter organisms including the species H. bilis and H. trogontum.

(Helicobacter rappini, NCI Thesaurus)

A genus of gram-negative helical, curved, or straight microaerophilic bacteria with rounded ends and multiple sheathed flagella (unipolar or bipolar and lateral) with terminal bulbs.

(Helicobacter, NCI Thesaurus)

Myelin sheathes cover neuronal axons in the central and peripheral nervous system and function to increase travelling impulse speeds.

(Demyelinating Disorder, NCI Thesaurus)

It is upon this account that the image of Justice, in their courts of judicature, is formed with six eyes, two before, as many behind, and on each side one, to signify circumspection; with a bag of gold open in her right hand, and a sword sheathed in her left, to show she is more disposed to reward than to punish.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

So silent and still were they, that they might have been metal-sheathed statues, were it not for the occasional quick, impatient stamp of their chargers, or the rattle of chamfron against neck-plates as they tossed and strained.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)