Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Sheaf

Sheaf (shēf), n. (Mech.) A sheave. [R.]

Sheaf, n.; pl. Sheaves (#). [OE. sheef, shef, schef, AS. sceáf; akin to D. schoof, OHG. scoub, G. schaub, Icel. skauf a fox's brush, and E. shove. See Shove.] 1. A quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw.

The reaper fills his greedy hands, And binds the golden sheaves in brittle bands. Dryden.

2. Any collection of things bound together; a bundle; specifically, a bundle of arrows sufficient to fill a quiver, or the allowance of each archer, — usually twenty-four.

The sheaf of arrows shook and rattled in the case. Dryden.

Sheaf, v. t. To gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves; as, to sheaf wheat.

Sheaf (shēf), v. i. To collect and bind cut grain, or the like; to make sheaves.

They that reap must sheaf and bind. Shak.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.