Sheathe

//ʃiːð// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To put (something such as a knife or sword) into a sheath. transitive

    "Sheath your Dagger: / Be angry when you will, it ſhall haue ſcope: […]"

  2. 2
    plunge or bury (a knife or sword) in flesh wordnet
  3. 3
    To encase (something) with a protective covering. transitive

    "A chearful heart does good like a medicine, but envy corrodes like a poiſon; it is ſo ſharp, that it cuts the body which ſheathes it."

  4. 4
    enclose with a sheath wordnet
  5. 5
    Of an animal: to draw back or retract (a body part) into the body, such as claws into a paw. transitive

    "So when the gen'rous Lyon has in ſight / His equal match, he rouſes for the fight; / But when his foe lyes proſtrate on the plain, / He ſheaths his paws, uncurls his angry mane; / And, plea'd with bloudleſs honours of the day, / Walks over, and diſdains th' inglorious Prey, […]"

Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    cover with a protective sheathing wordnet
  2. 7
    To thrust (a sharp object like a sword, a claw, or a tusk) into something. dated, figuratively, literary, poetic, transitive

    "And nuzzling in his flank, the loving swine / Sheathed unaware the tusk in his soft groin."

  3. 8
    To abandon or cease (animosity, etc.) figuratively, obsolete, rare, transitive

    "Let him die, but firſt ſheth your impatience, throw cold water on your collor, […]"

  4. 9
    To provide (a sword, etc.) with a sheath. obsolete, transitive

    "Nathaniels coate ſir was not fully made, / And Gabrels pumpes were all vnpinkt i'th heele: / There was no Linke to colour Peters hat, / And Walters dagger was not come from ſheathing: […]"

  5. 10
    To relieve the harsh or painful effect of (a drug, a poison, etc.). obsolete, transitive

    "[page 540] Theſe ſmooth and oily Med'cines act by ſheathing acrimonious Salts in the Blood, and preventing Inconveniences from 'em; and by relaxing the Fibres, and hence widening 'em. […] [page 541] [They] are convenient in Coughs, from thin and ſharp Rheums, becauſe they ſheathe the Salts that gall the Lungs."

Synonyms

All synonyms
apparelarrayattirebedeckbedrapeboard

Example

More examples

"Sheath your Dagger: / Be angry when you will, it ſhall haue ſcope: […]"

Etymology

From Late Middle English shethen (“to put (a sword or knife) into a sheath, sheathe; to provide with a sheath; (figuratively) to have sexual intercourse”) [and other forms], then: * probably from Old English *scēaþian; or * possibly from Middle English sheth, shethe (“holder for a sword, knife, etc., scabbard, sheath”) [and other forms] + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). Sheth(e) is derived from Old English sċēaþ (“sheath”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaiþiju, 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).

Related phrases

sheathe the swordsheathed cable

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.