sheet 1
— sheetless , adj. — sheetlike , adj.
/sheet/ , n.
1. a large rectangular piece of cotton, linen, or other material used as an article of bedding, commonly spread in pairs so that one is immediately above and the other immediately below the sleeper.
2. a broad, relatively thin, surface, layer, or covering.
3. a relatively thin, usually rectangular form, piece, plate, or slab, as of photographic film, glass, metal, etc.
4. material, as metal or glass, in the form of broad, relatively thin pieces.
5. a sail, as on a ship or boat.
6. a rectangular piece of paper or parchment, esp. one on which to write.
7. a newspaper or periodical.
8. Printing and Bookbinding. a large, rectangular piece of printing paper, esp. one for printing a complete signature.
9. Philately. the impression from a plate or the like on a single sheet of paper before any division of the paper into individual stamps.
10. an extent, stretch, or expanse, as of fire or water: sheets of flame.
11. a thin, flat piece of metal or a very shallow pan on which to place food while baking.
12. Geol. a more or less horizontal mass of rock, esp. volcanic rock intruded between strata or poured out over a surface.
13. Math.
a. one of the separate pieces making up a geometrical surface: a hyperboloid of two sheets.
b. one of the planes or pieces of planes making up a Riemann surface.
14. Crystall. a type of crystal structure, as in mica, in which certain atoms unite strongly in two dimensions to form a layer that is weakly joined to others.
v.t.
15. to furnish with a sheet or sheets.
16. to wrap in a sheet.
17. to cover with a sheet or layer of something.
[ bef. 900; ME shete, OE scete (north), sciete, deriv. of sceat corner, lap, sheet, region; c. D schoot, G Schoss, ON skaut ]
sheet 2
/sheet/ , n.
1. Naut.
a. a rope or chain for extending the clews of a square sail along a yard.
b. a rope for trimming a fore-and-aft sail.
c. a rope or chain for extending the lee clew of a course.
2. three sheets in or to the wind , Slang. intoxicated.
v.t.
3. Naut. to trim, extend, or secure by means of a sheet or sheets.
[ 1300-50; ME shete, shortening of OE sceatline, equiv. to sceat ( a ) lower corner of a sail (see SHEET 1 ) + line LINE 1 , rope; c. LG schote ]