SHEET

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sheet mean? 

• SHEET (noun)
  The noun SHEET has 8 senses:

1. any broad thin expanse or surface

2. paper used for writing or printing

3. bed linen consisting of a large rectangular piece of cotton or linen cloth; used in pairs

4. (mathematics) an unbounded two-dimensional shape

5. newspaper with half-size pages

6. a flat artifact that is thin relative to its length and width

7. (nautical) a line (rope or chain) that regulates the angle at which a sail is set in relation to the wind

8. a large piece of fabric (usually canvas fabric) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel

  Familiarity information: SHEET used as a noun is common.

• SHEET (verb)
  The verb SHEET has 2 senses:

1. come down as if in sheets

2. cover with a sheet, as if by wrapping

  Familiarity information: SHEET used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHEET (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any broad thin expanse or surface

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Context example:

a sheet of ice

Hypernyms ("sheet" is a kind of...):

expanse (a wide and open space or area as of surface or land or sky)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Paper used for writing or printing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

piece of paper; sheet; sheet of paper

Hypernyms ("sheet" is a kind of...):

paper (a material made of cellulose pulp derived mainly from wood or rags or certain grasses)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sheet"):

foolscap (a size of paper used especially in Britain)

revenue stamp; stamp (a small piece of adhesive paper that is put on an object to show that a government tax has been paid)

worksheet (a sheet of paper with multiple columns; used by an accountant to assemble figures for financial statements)

style sheet (a sheet summarizing the editorial conventions to be followed in preparing text for publication)

tear sheet (a sheet that can be easily torn out of a publication)

folio; leaf (a sheet of any written or printed material (especially in a manuscript or book))

signature (a sheet with several pages printed on it; it folds to page size and is bound with other signatures to form a book)

slip; slip of paper (a small sheet of paper)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Bed linen consisting of a large rectangular piece of cotton or linen cloth; used in pairs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bed sheet; sheet

Hypernyms ("sheet" is a kind of...):

bed linen (linen or cotton articles for a bed (as sheets and pillowcases))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sheet"):

contour sheet; fitted sheet (a sheet (usually with elastic edges) tailored to fit a particular mattress)

Derivation:

sheet (cover with a sheet, as if by wrapping)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(mathematics) an unbounded two-dimensional shape

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

plane; sheet

Context example:

any line joining two points on a plane lies wholly on that plane

Hypernyms ("sheet" is a kind of...):

form; shape (the spatial arrangement of something as distinct from its substance)

Domain category:

math; mathematics; maths (a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sheet"):

Cartesian plane (a plane in which all points can be described in Cartesian coordinates)

facet plane (the plane of a facet of an object (as of a cube))

midline; midplane (the median plane of the body (or some part of the body))

orbital plane ((astronomy) the plane on which a body is orbiting)

picture plane (the plane that is in the foreground of a drawing or painting; coextensive with but different from the objective surface of the work)

tangent plane (the plane that contains all the lines tangent to a specific point on a surface)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Newspaper with half-size pages

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

rag; sheet; tabloid

Hypernyms ("sheet" is a kind of...):

newspaper; paper (a daily or weekly publication on folded sheets; contains news and articles and advertisements)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A flat artifact that is thin relative to its length and width

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

flat solid; sheet

Hypernyms ("sheet" is a kind of...):

artefact; artifact (a man-made object taken as a whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sheet"):

stencil (a sheet of material (metal, plastic, cardboard, waxed paper, silk, etc.) that has been perforated with a pattern (printing or a design); ink or paint can pass through the perforations to create the printed pattern on the surface below)

sheet metal (sheet of metal formed into a thin plate)

plate glass; sheet glass (glass formed into large thin sheets)

photographic plate; plate (a flat sheet of metal or glass on which a photographic image can be recorded)

laminate (a sheet of material made by bonding two or more sheets or layers)

plate (a sheet of metal or wood or glass or plastic)

membrane (a thin pliable sheet of material)

film; plastic film (a thin sheet of (usually plastic and usually transparent) material used to wrap or cover things)

board (a flat piece of material designed for a special purpose)

blank (a piece of material ready to be made into something)

blackboard; chalkboard (sheet of slate; for writing with chalk)

panel (sheet that forms a distinct (usually flat and rectangular) section or component of something)

Sense 7

Meaning:

(nautical) a line (rope or chain) that regulates the angle at which a sail is set in relation to the wind

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

mainsheet; sheet; shroud; tack; weather sheet

Hypernyms ("sheet" is a kind of...):

line (something (as a cord or rope) that is long and thin and flexible)

Domain category:

navigation; sailing; seafaring (the work of a sailor)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sheet"):

futtock shroud (shroud that is part of a ship's rigging)

Holonyms ("sheet" is a part of...):

ship (a vessel that carries passengers or freight)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A large piece of fabric (usually canvas fabric) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

canvas; canvass; sail; sheet

Hypernyms ("sheet" is a kind of...):

piece of cloth; piece of material (a separate part consisting of fabric)

Meronyms (parts of "sheet"):

reef (one of several strips across a sail that can be taken in or rolled up to lessen the area of the sail that is exposed to the wind)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sheet"):

crossjack; mizzen course (the lowermost sail on a mizzenmast)

balloon sail (any light loose sail)

topsail (a sail (or either of a pair of sails) immediately above the lowermost sail of a mast and supported by a topmast)

topgallant; topgallant sail (a sail set on a yard of a topgallant mast)

square sail (a four-sided sail set beneath a horizontal yard suspended at the middle from a mast)

skysail (the sail above the royal on a square-rigger)

save-all (a sail set to catch wind spilled from a larger sail)

royal (a sail set next above the topgallant on a royal mast)

press of canvas; press of sail (the greatest amount of sail that a ship can carry safely)

main-topsail (a topsail set on the mainmast)

mainsail (the lowermost sail on the mainmast)

headsail (any sail set forward of the foremast of a vessel)

foresail (the lowest sail on the foremast of a square-rigged vessel)

fore-and-aft sail (any sail not set on a yard and whose normal position is in a fore-and-aft direction)

Holonyms ("sheet" is a part of...):

sailing ship; sailing vessel (a vessel that is powered by the wind; often having several masts)

• SHEET (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sheet    ... he / she / it sheets   
Past simple: sheeted   
Past participle: sheeted   
-ing form: sheeting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Come down as if in sheets

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Context example:

The rain was sheeting down during the monsoon

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

pelt; pour; rain buckets; rain cats and dogs; stream (rain heavily)

Sentence frame:

It is ----ing

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cover with a sheet, as if by wrapping

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

sheet the body

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

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

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

sheet (bed linen consisting of a large rectangular piece of cotton or linen cloth; used in pairs)

sheeting (fabric from which bed sheets are made)

 Context examples 

“There's a sheet of letter-paper,” he returned.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"You like it, Mother?" said Jo, as they laid down the closely written sheets and looked at one another.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The R-groups (side chains) of neighbouring residues in a b-strand point in opposite directions; beta sheets can be parallel, anti-parallel or mixed.

(Beta Sheet, NCI Thesaurus)

As he spoke he handed me three sheets of note-paper and three envelopes.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A rare benign tumor composed of sheets and islands of spindle, plasmacytoid, epithelioid, and clear cells that exhibit myoepithelial but not ductal differentiation.

(Benign Salivary Gland Myoepithelioma, NCI Thesaurus)

Cytokeratins are a family of cysteine-rich fibrous structural proteins that form tough filaments or sheets.

(Cytokeratin, NCI Thesaurus)

Part of the domain contains two beta sheets that form a cavity and a short C-terminal alpha helix; another contains two zinc-binding sites that maintain the domain fold.

(DAG/PE-Binding Domain, NCI Thesaurus)

A pin that is formed as a rolled sheet and acts to provide a retaining force on the part through which it is inserted.

(Motor Roll Pin Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

There was nothing which we could see upon the shore which seemed to me so wonderful as the great sheet of water before us.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A device that is made from or resembles a thin flexible sheet of material.

(Membrane Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)