Etymologically
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sleeve

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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

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)