Sheet Definition

shēt

sheeted, sheets

noun

sheets

A large, rectangular piece of cotton, linen, etc., used to cover a bed, usually in pairs, with one under and one over the sleeper's body.

Webster's New World

A rectangular piece of paper, esp. one of a number of pieces cut to a definite, uniform size, as for use in writing, printing, etc.

Webster's New World

A large piece of such paper with a number of pages printed on it, to be folded into a signature for binding into a book.

Webster's New World

A broad, thin, usually rectangular piece of any material, as glass, plywood, metal, etc.

Webster's New World

A broad, continuous surface, layer, or expanse, as of flame, water, ice, etc.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

verb

sheeted, sheets

To cover or provide with, or form into, a sheet or sheets.

Webster's New World

To extend in a certain direction. Used of the sheets of a sail.

American Heritage

To make into sheets.

American Heritage

To flow or fall in a sheet.

Rain sheeting against the windshield.

American Heritage

Of rain, or other precipitation. To pour heavily.

We couldn't go out because the rain was sheeting down all day long.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Synonyms:
laminate

adjective

In the form of a sheet.

Sheet iron.

Webster's New World

idiom

three sheets to

Intoxicated; drunk.

American Heritage

sheet home

to tighten the sheets of (a square sail) until it is set as flat as possible

Webster's New World

three sheets in the wind

very drunk

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Sheet

Noun

Singular:

sheet

Plural:

sheets

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Sheet

three sheets to
sheet home
three sheets in the wind

Origin of Sheet

From Middle English schete; partly from Old English scÄ“te, scȳte, scÄ«te (“a sheet, a piece of linen cloth"); partly from Old English scÄ“ata (“a corner, angle; the lower corner of a sail, sheet"); and Old English scÄ“at (“a corner, angle"); all from Proto-Germanic *skautijÇ, *skautaz (“corner, wedge, lap"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to throw, shoot, pursue, rush"). Cognate with North Frisian skut (“the fold of a garment, lap, coattail"), Dutch schoot (“the fold of a garment, lap, sheet"), German Low German Schote (“a line from the foot of a sail"), German Schoß (“the fold of a garment, lap"), Swedish sköt (“sheet"), Icelandic skaut (“the corner of a cloth, a line from the foot of a sail, the skirt or sleeve of a garment, a hood").

From Wiktionary
Middle English shete from Old English scēat(line) sheet (line) from scēata corner of a sail skeud- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Middle English schete cloth from Old English scēte skeud- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition