winding sheet

See also: winding-sheet

English

Alternative forms

• winding-sheet (dated)

Noun

winding sheet (plural winding sheets)

1. A burial shroud.
2. (historical) A collection of tallow rising up against the wick of a candle, once regarded as an omen of death.
   • 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities:

     He resorted to his pint of wine for consolation, drank it all in a few minutes, and fell asleep on his arms, with his hair straggling over the table, and a long winding-sheet in the candle dripping down upon him.

Synonyms

• winding cloth

Translations

burial shroud

• Finnish: käärinliina (fi)
• Irish: taiséadach m
• Macedonian: плашта́ница f (plaštánica), по́кров m (pókrov)
• Ottoman Turkish: كفن (kefen)
• Polish: całun (pl) m
• Russian: са́ван (ru) m (sávan)
• Scottish Gaelic: anart-bàis m
• Serbo-Croatian: mrtvački pokrov
• Turkish: kefen (tr)