[sheet] n [ME shete, fr. OE scyte; akin to OE sceat edge, OHG scoz flap, skirt] (bef. 12c) 1 a: a broad piece of cloth; esp: bedsheet b: sail 1a(1)
2. a (1): a usu. rectangular piece of paper; esp: one manufactured for printing (2): a rectangular piece of heavy paper with a plant specimen mounted on it "an herbarium of 100,000 ~s" b: a printed signature for a book esp. before it has been folded, cut, or bound--usu. used in pl. c: a newspaper, periodical, or occasional publication "a gossip ~" d: the unseparated postage stamps printed by one impression of a plate on a single piece of paper; also: a pane of stamps
3: a broad stretch or surface of something "a ~ of ice"
4: a suspended or moving expanse (as of fire or rain)
5. a: a portion of something that is thin in comparison to its length and breadth b: a flat baking pan of tinned metal "a cookie ~"
6: a surface or part of a surface in which it is possible to pass from any one point of it to any other without leaving the surface "a hyperboloid of two ~s" -- sheet.like adj
[2]sheet adj (1582) 1: rolled or spread out in a sheet
2: of, relating to, or concerned with the making of sheet metal [3]sheet vt (1606) 1: to cover with a sheet: shroud
2: to furnish with sheets
3: to form into sheets ~ vi: to fall, spread, or flow in a sheet "the rain ~ed against the windows" -- sheet.er n -- sheet home 1: to extend (a sail) and set as flat as possible by hauling upon the sheets
2: to fix the responsibility for: bring home to one [4]sheet n [ME shete, fr. OE sceata lower corner of a sail; akin to OE scyte sheet] (13c) 1: a rope or chain that regulates the angle at which a sail is set in relation to the wind
2. pl: the spaces at either end of an open boat not occupied by thwarts: foresheets and stern sheets together -- three sheets in the wind or three sheets to the wind : drunk 1a