sheath

English

Princely Mughal sabre with jewelled scabbard

Electrical cable diagram

Campbell Brown of CNN in a sheath dress

Alternative forms

• sheathe (Verb)

Etymology

From Middle English sheth, shethe, schethe, from Old English sċēaþ, from Proto-Germanic *skaiþiz, possibly from a root skaiþ- ("split, divide"), related to *skaiþaną (“separate”). Cognate with Dutch schede, Low German scheed, German Scheide, Danish skede, Norwegian skjede, Icelandic skeið.

Pronunciation

• enPR: shēth, IPA^(key): /ʃiːθ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːθ

Noun

sheath (plural sheaths)

1. A scabbard; a holster for a sword.
2. Anything that has a similar shape to a scabbard for a sword that is for the purpose of holding an object that is longer than it is wide; a case.
3. The insulating outer cover of an electrical cable.
4. A tight-fitting dress.
5. (British) A condom.
6. The foreskin of certain animals, e.g. dogs and horses.
7. The base of a leaf when sheathing or investing a stem or branch, as in grasses.
8. One of the elytra of an insect.

Synonyms

• (scabbard): scabbard
• (long case):
  • case
  • casing
  • cover
  • covering
  • envelope
• (tight-fitting dress):
• See also Thesaurus:condom

Derived terms

• leaf sheath
• myelin sheath

Related terms

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

Translations

scabbard

• Albanian: këllëf (sq) m
• Arabic: غِمْد m (ḡimd), غِلَاف m (ḡilāf)
• Armenian: պատյան (hy) (patyan)
• Aromanian: teacã f
• Azerbaijani: qın, kılıf
• Belarusian: но́жны f pl (nóžny), по́хва f (póxva), по́хвы f pl (póxvy)
• Bulgarian: ножница (bg) f (nožnica)
• Burmese: ဓားအိမ် (my) (dha:im)
• Catalan: beina (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鞘 (zh) (qiào), 刀鞘 (zh) (dāoqiào), 劍鞘／剑鞘 (jiànqiào), 剑鞘 (jiànqiào)

• Czech: pochva (cs) f
• Danish: skede (da)
• Dutch: schede (nl) f
• Esperanto: glavingo (eo)
• Faroese: slíðri m
• Finnish: tuppi (fi), huotra (fi)
• French: fourreau (fr) m
• Galician: vaíña f
• Georgian: ქარქაში (karkaši)
• German: Scheide (de) f, Schwertscheide f
• Gothic: 𐍆𐍉𐌳𐍂 n (fōdr)
• Greek: θηκάρι (el) n (thikári), θήκη (el) f (thíki)

  Ancient: ἔλυτρον n (élutron), κολεός m (koleós)

• Hebrew: נדן (he) m (nadan), נרתיק (he) m (nartik)
• Hindi: मियान (hi) f (miyān)
• Hungarian: hüvely (hu), tok (hu)
• Icelandic: skeiðar (is) f pl
• Ido: gaino (io)
• Irish: truaill f
• Italian: fodero (it) m, guaina (it) f
• Japanese: 鞘 (ja) (さや, saya)
• Kazakh: қын (qyn), қынап (qynap)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: ស្រោមដាវ (sraom daaw)
• Korean: 칼집 (ko) (kaljip)
• Kyrgyz: кын (kın)
• Lao: ຝັກ (fak)
• Latin: vāgīna f
• Latvian: maksts (lv) f
• Low German: scheed
• Macedonian: канија f (kanija), корица f (korica), ножница f (nožnica)
• Mongolian: хуй (mn) (xuj)
• Ngazidja Comorian: wala class 9/10
• Norwegian: slire m or f, skjede m
• Persian: غلاف (fa) (ğelâf), نیام (fa) (niyâm)
• Polish: pochwa (pl) f
• Portuguese: bainha (pt) f
• Romanian: teacă (ro) f
• Russian: но́жны (ru) f pl (nóžny)
• Scottish Gaelic: fraighe f, cochall m, faighean m, duille-sgeine f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ножница f

  Roman: nožnica (sh) f

• Slovak: pošva (sk) f
• Slovene: nožnica (sl) f
• Spanish: vaina (es) f
• Swedish: balja (sv) c, slida (sv) c, skida (sv) c
• Tagalog: kaluban, bayna
• Tajik: ғилоф (ġilof), наём (nayom)
• Thai: ฝัก (th) (fàk)
• Turkish: kın (tr), kılıf (tr)
• Turkmen: gyn
• Ukrainian: пі́хви f pl (píxvy), пі́хва f (píxva)
• Uyghur: قىن (qin), غىلاپ (ghilap)
• Uzbek: qin (uz), gʻilof (uz)
• Welsh: gwain f
• Yiddish: שייד f (sheyd)

long case

• Catalan: embolcall (ca) m
• Dutch: huls (nl) f
• Finnish: tuppi (fi), suojus (fi)
• French: gaine (fr) f (for a knife), étui (fr) m
• German: Hülle (de) f, Futteral (de) n
• Hebrew: נרתיק (he) m (nartik)
• Hungarian: tok (hu)
• Italian: guaina (it) f
• Latin: vāgīna f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: maksts (lv) f
• Macedonian: футро́ла f (futróla)
• Portuguese: revestimento (pt) m
• Russian: футля́р (ru) m (futljár)
• Spanish: envoltura (es) f
• Swedish: fodral (sv) n
• Vietnamese: vỏ (vi)
• Yiddish: שייד f (sheyd)

insulating outer cover of an electrical cable

• German: Hülle (de) f, Mantel (de) n, Ummantelung f, Umhüllung f
• Hungarian: borítás (hu), burkolat (hu), szigetelés (hu), védőcső, Bergmann cső
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: funda exterior, envoltura exterior f, cubierta exterior f, vaina externa f

tight-fitting dress

• Finnish: kotelomekko
• French: fourreau (fr) m, robe fourreau f
• German: Etuikleid n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Swedish: fodral (sv) n, fodralklänning c

condom — see condom

foreskin of certain animals

• Catalan: beina (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 包皮 (zh) (bāopí)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: tuppi (fi)
• Italian: prepuzio (it) m
• Polish: puzdro (pl) n

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Pronunciation

• enPR: shēth, IPA^(key): /ʃiːð/
• Rhymes: -iːð

Verb

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

1. To put an object (especially a weapon, in particular, a sword) into its sheath.
   • (Can we date this quote by John Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?), The Hind and the Panther

     But when his foe lies prostrate on the plain, / He sheaths his paws, uncurls his angry mane, / And pleased with bloodless honours of the day, / Walks over and disdains th' inglorious prey.

Antonyms

• unsheath

Derived terms

• resheath
• resheathe

Translations

put (a sword) into its sheath

• Catalan: embeinar (ca)
• Dutch: in de schede steken, terugtrekken (nl)
• French: mettre au fourreau
• Galician: envaiñar (gl)
• German: ummanteln (de)
• Ido: engainigar (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: rinfoderare, inguainare
• Japanese: (phrase) 鞘に収める (sayani osameru)
• Portuguese: embainhar (pt), abainhar (pt)
• Russian: вкладывать в ножны (vkládyvat’ v nóžny)
• Spanish: envainar (es)

put (an object) into its sheath

• Catalan: embeinar (ca)
• Dutch: in de schede steken
• French: rengainer (fr) (weapon)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} engainigar (io)
• Russian: класть в футляр (klást’ v futljár)
• Spanish: envainar (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: ^{(please verify)} umhüllen (de)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} inguainare
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• (deprecated template usage) Mandarin: 對鞘, 对鞘(duìqiào); 覆蓋, 覆盖 (fùgài)

Further reading

• “sheath”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “sheath”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• heaths