different between enclosure vs sheath

English

Alternative forms

• inclosure (was as common as or more common until the early 1800s; now uncommon)

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French enclosure.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?n?klo????/, /?n?klo????/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?n?kl????/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?n?kl????/
• Hyphenation: en?clo?sure

Noun

enclosure (countable and uncountable, plural enclosures)

1. (countable) Something enclosed, i.e. inserted into a letter or similar package.

   There was an enclosure with the letter — a photo.

2. (uncountable) The act of enclosing, i.e. the insertion or inclusion of an item in a letter or package.

   The enclosure of a photo with your letter is appreciated.

3. (countable) An area, domain, or amount of something partially or entirely enclosed by barriers.

   He faced punishment for creating the fenced enclosure in a public park.

   The glass enclosure holds the mercury vapor.

   The winning horse was first into the unsaddling enclosure.
4. (uncountable) The act of separating and surrounding an area, domain, or amount of something with a barrier.

   The enclosure of public land is against the law.

   The experiment requires the enclosure of mercury vapor in a glass tube.

   At first, untrained horses resist enclosure.

5. (uncountable, British History) The post-feudal process of subdivision of common lands for individual ownership.

   Strip-farming disappeared after enclosure.

6. (religion) The area of a convent, monastery, etc where access is restricted to community members.

Usage notes

• For more on the spelling of this word, see enclose.

Translations

Anagrams

• corneules, encolures

Old French

Alternative forms

• encloseure

Etymology

enclos-, stem of enclore +? -ure.

Noun

enclosure f (oblique plural enclosures, nominative singular enclosure, nominative plural enclosures)

1. enclosure (act of enclosing something)
2. enclosure (enclosed area)

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (encloseure)
• enclosure on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English sheth, shethe (“holder for a sword, knife, etc., scabbard, sheath”) [and other forms], from Old English s??aþ (“sheath”), from Proto-Germanic *skaiþiz (“sheath; covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect, split”) (possibly from the notion of a split stick with a sword inserted). The English word is cognate with Danish skede, Dutch schede, Icelandic skeið, German Scheide, Low German scheed, Norwegian skjede.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sh?th, IPA^(key): /?i??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?i?/
• Rhymes: -i??

Noun

sheath (plural sheaths)

1. A holster for a sword; a scabbard.
2. (by extension) Anything that has a similar shape to a scabbard that is used to hold an object that is longer than it is wide.

   Synonyms: case, casing, cover, covering, envelope

3. (botany) The base of a leaf when sheathing or investing a branch or stem, as in grasses.
4. (electrical engineering) The insulating outer cover of an electrical cable.
5. (entomology) One of the elytra of an insect.
6. (fashion) A tight-fitting dress.
7. (zoology) The foreskin of certain animals (for example, dogs and horses).
8. (Britain, informal) A condom.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:condom

Derived terms

• leaf sheath
• myelin sheath
• sheathy

Related terms

• sheathe
• heliosheath
• resheath, resheathe
• unsheath, unsheathe

Translations

Etymology 2

A variant of sheathe.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sh?th, IPA^(key): /?i?ð/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?ið/
• Rhymes: -i?ð

Verb

sheath (third-person singular simple present sheaths, present participle sheathing, simple past and past participle sheathed)

1. Alternative spelling of sheathe

   Antonym: unsheath

Derived terms

• ensheath, insheath
• resheath
• unsheath

References

Further reading

• sheath on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• sheath in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• sheath in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• heaths