sheet English · revision 5530

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʃiːt/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|cloth, paper}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 725|origins=gem-pro *skautjōn}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|shete]], [[inh|ang|sċēte]] (West Saxon sċīete, “cloth, covering”),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[gem-pro|*skautjōn]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) It is related to Old English sċēat “corner, region, lap, cloth”, which is cognate with Dutch schoot, German Schoß “lap” and Gothic skauts “hem”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) The Germanic base also gave [[shoot]], one of whose senses was “to project”.^(Hoad 1986)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A broad piece of cloth used as a covering: about 725.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A winding-sheet is from about 1000, and a sheet as bedding from about 1250.^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986) A piece of paper for writing or printing is from about 1500,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) any broad, thin surface of metal, water and so on from the 1590s,^(Etymonline) and a sweep of falling rain from the 1690s.^(Etymonline) A newspaper is from 1749.^(Etymonline) ''Between the sheets'' is from the 1590s and ''white as a sheet'' from 1751.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) ''Sheet lightning'' is from 1794 and ''sheet music'' from 1857.^(Etymonline) The verb, to cover with a sheet, is from 1606 in MWU.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – a covering cloth.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1250 – a bedsheet.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1500 – a sheet of paper.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1590s – any broad thin surface.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1749 – a newspaper.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1857 – ''sheet music''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A large rectangular piece of [[cotton]] or [[linen]] cloth used on a bed.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A thin flat piece of [[paper]], [[glass]], [[metal]] or the like.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A broad, continuous surface or mass: ''a sheet of ice'', ''a sheet of rain''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A [[newspaper]], especially a tabloid.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To cover or wrap in a sheet.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Of rain, to fall heavily.^(COED 2004)

+

+ {{homograph|2|rope}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1294}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The rope is Middle English shete, shortened from Old English sceatline “sheet-line”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from sceata “lower corner of a sail, piece of cloth”, from the same Germanic source as the first word.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) Old Norse skaut and Dutch schoot also mean a rope fastened to a sail.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A rope attached to a lower corner of a sail: 1294–95 in Barnhart, the late 13th century in Etymonline.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Three sheets in the wind'', drunk, is recorded from 1812, and ''two sheets in the wind'' from 1813;^(Etymonline) it pictures a sailing boat whose sheets have come loose, so that it lurches.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) The verb ''sheet home'', to set a sail flat by hauling on the sheets, is from the late 18th century.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1294 – a sail rope.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1812 – ''three sheets in the wind''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(sailing)'' A [[rope]] or chain attached to a lower corner of a [[sail]], used to control it.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[shoot]]

+ * [[sheeting]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The first part of ''sheet anchor'', an anchor kept for emergencies, appears to be a different word of unknown origin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}