sleeve

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sliːv/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sleve, inherited from Old English slīefe (West Saxon), also slēfe (Anglian),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Proto-Germanic *slaubjōn,^[2][3] probably “that into which the arm slips”.^[3] It is related to slēfan (“to slip on clothes”) and slūpan (“to slip, glide”) (see slip),^[2][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *sleubh- (“to slide, slip”).^[2][3] Hoad compares Middle Dutch sloove (“covering”).^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The part of a garment that covers the arm: before 901.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

A sleeve worn as a token or borne in heraldry is from about 1374,^[7] and a piece of armour for the arm from 1465.^[7] Phrases followed: to pull someone by the sleeve (1390), to have something up one's sleeve (1500–20), and to laugh in one's sleeve (1560).^[7] The mechanical sense, a tube into which a rod or another tube fits, is by 1864.^[3] The sleeve as a name for the English Channel translates French la Manche.^[3] In Sussex dialect the sleeve was a kind of octopus.^[8]

Timeline

• before 901 – a sleeve.^[2][7]
• c. 1374 – a sleeve worn as a favour.^[7]
• 1465 – an arm piece of armour.^[7]
• 1500–20 – up one's sleeve.^[7]
• by 1864 – a mechanical sleeve.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The part of a garment that covers all or part of the arm.
2. A tube fitted over or into another part, as a liner or bush.
3. A cover protecting a gramophone record.
4. up one's sleeve: kept secretly in reserve.
5. roll up one's sleeves: to prepare to work hard.

Verb

1. To fit with a sleeve or sleeves.

Word family

• sleeveless
• sleeved
• sleevelike
• sleevelet
• shirt-sleeve
• foresleeve
• undersleeve
• unsleeved

Related words

• slip
• slipper

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)