Sheaf

Table of contents

1 English 1.1 Noun 1.2 Transitive verb 1.3 Intransitive verb

English

Noun

sheaf (plural sheaves )

1. A quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw.

   Quotations

   • 1593: O, let me teach you how to knit again This scattered corn into one mutual sheaf, These broken limbs again into one body. — William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, Act V, Scene III, line 70.
   • The reaper fills his greedy hands, And binds the golden sheaves in brittle bands. Dryden.

2. Any collection of things bound together; a bundle.
3. A bundle of arrows sufficient to fill a quiver, or the allowance of each archer.

   Quotations

   • The sheaf of arrows shook and rattled in the case. Dryden.

4. (English units) A quantity of arrows, usually twenty-four.

   Quotations

   • 1786: Arrows were anciently made of reeds, afterwards of cornel wood, and occasionally of every species of wood: but according to Roger Ascham, ash was best; arrows were reckoned by sheaves , a sheaf consisted of twenty-four arrows. — Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 34.

5. (Mechanical) A sheave.

Transitive verb

to sheaf

1. To gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves; as, to sheaf wheat.

Intransitive verb

to sheaf

1. To collect and bind cut grain, or the like; to make sheaves.

   Quotations

   1599: They that reap must sheaf and bind; Then to cart with Rosalind. — William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act III, Scene II, line 107.