different between sheaf vs skein

English

Etymology

From Middle English scheef, from Old English s??af, from Proto-Germanic *skauba- (“sheaf”). Akin to West Frisian skeaf (“sheaf”), Dutch schoof (“sheaf”), German Schaub, Old Norse skauf (“a fox's tail”). Compare further Gothic ???????????????????? (skuft, “hair of the head”), German Schopf (“tuft”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: sh?f, IPA^(key): /?i?f/
• Rhymes: -i?f

Noun

sheaf (plural sheaves or sheafs)

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

   Synonym: reap

   • 1593, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, Act V, Scene III, line 70:

     O, let me teach you how to knit again / This scattered corn into one mutual sheaf, / These broken limbs again into one body.

   • c. 1697, John Dryden, “Georgic I”, in The Works of Virgil:

     E’en while the reaper fills his greedy hands, / And binds the golden sheaves in brittle bands

2. Any collection of things bound together.

   Synonym: bundle
3. A bundle of arrows sufficient to fill a quiver, or the allowance of each archer.
4. A quantity of arrows, usually twenty-four.
   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 34:

     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.

5. (mechanical) A sheave.
6. (mathematics) An abstract construct in topology that associates data to the open sets of a topological space, together with well-defined restrictions from larger to smaller open sets, subject to the condition that compatible data on overlapping open sets corresponds, via the restrictions, to a unique datum on the union of the open sets.

Derived terms

• indsheaf

Translations

Verb

sheaf (third-person singular simple present sheafs, present participle sheafing, simple past and past participle sheafed)

1. (transitive) To gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves

2. (intransitive) To collect and bind cut grain, or the like; to make sheaves.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act III, Scene II, line 107:

     They that reap must sheaf and bind; Then to cart with Rosalind.

Anagrams

• SHAEF, Shefa

English

Alternative forms

• (obsolete) skean, skain

Etymology

From Middle English skayne, from Old French escaigne (Modern French écagne), probably of Proto-Celtic origin, from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to split off”)

Pronunciation

• enPR: sk?n, IPA^(key): /ske?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Noun

skein (plural skeins)

2. A quantity of yarn, thread, etc. put up together, after it is taken from the reel. A skein of cotton yarn is formed by eighty turns of the thread around a fifty-four inch reel.
   • 1935, T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral, Part I:

     You hold the skein: wind, Thomas, wind

     The thread of eternal life and death.

3. (figuratively) A web, a weave, a tangle.
   • 1923, Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Creeping Man"

     The practical application of what I have said is very close to the problem which I am investigating. It is a tangled skein, you understand, and I am looking for a loose end.

4. (zoology) The membrane of a fish ovary.
5. (wagonmaking) A metallic strengthening band or thimble on the wooden arm of an axle.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

6. (zoology, Britain, dialect) A group of wild fowl, (e.g. geese, goslings) when they are in flight.
7. (sports) A winning streak.
8. (radio, television, dated) A series created by a web (major broadcasting network).
   • 1950, Billboard (volume 62, number 9)

     All three tele skeins are pitching furiously to snag the super Easter Day tele show to be bankrolled by Frigidaire, […]

   • 1963, Radio Television Daily (volume 93, page 5)

     Three comedy shows from the U. S. are in the CTV lineup: CBSTV's Phil Silvers and Danny Thomas skeins and NBC-TV's "Harry's Girls."

Translations

Verb

skein (third-person singular simple present skeins, present participle skeining, simple past and past participle skeined)

1. To wind or weave into a skein.

See also

• gaggle
• wedge

Anagrams

• Kines, Knies, Neski, Nikes, Sinke, e-skin, inkes, kines

Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skai?n/

Noun

skein f (genitive singular skeinar, plural skeinir)

1. (kvæði) scratch, small wound

Declension

Related terms

• (common): skeina

Verb

skein

1. shone, singular past of skína (to shine)

Icelandic

Verb

skein

1. first-person singular past active indicative of skína
2. third-person singular past active indicative of skína
3. second-person singular active imperative of skeina

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• skinte

Verb

skein

1. simple past of skinne

Anagrams

• kisen, kneis, knise, ksien, nikse, siken, sinke, Skien, skien, sneik, snike

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

skein

1. past of skina