Sheave
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A wheel having a groove in the rim for a rope to work in, and set in a block, mast, or similar; the wheel of a pulley.
"To an exceptional degree the duties on these inclines have been passed on from father to son; many a boy has begun his working life in oiling the sheaves and, after passing through every grade, has reached the age of retirement in the responsible position of brakesman."
- 2 A sliding scutcheon for covering a keyhole.
- 1 To gather and bind into a sheaf.
"From him did forty million serfs (...) receive Rich freeborn lifelong land, whereon to sheave Their country's harvest."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"To an exceptional degree the duties on these inclines have been passed on from father to son; many a boy has begun his working life in oiling the sheaves and, after passing through every grade, has reached the age of retirement in the responsible position of brakesman."
Etymology
From Middle English, from a Germanic base akin to German Scheibe, late Old Norse skífa (“slice”), all ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to split”). For more see shive.
See sheaf.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.