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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

sheathe.

To put (something such as a knife or sword) into a sheath.

7 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ʃiːð/Received-Pronunciation/ʃið/General-American/ʃiːv/
  1. To put (something such as a knife or sword) into a sheath.

    transitive
  2. To encase (something) with a protective covering.

    transitive
  3. Of an animal: to draw back or retract (a body part) into the body, such as claws into a paw.

    transitive
  4. To thrust (a sharp object like a sword, a claw, or a tusk) into something.

    dated · figuratively · literary · poetic · transitive
  5. To abandon or cease (animosity, etc.)

    figuratively · obsolete · rare · transitive
  6. To provide (a sword, etc.) with a sheath.

    obsolete · transitive
  7. To relieve the harsh or painful effect of (a drug, a poison, etc.).

    obsolete · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Late Middle English shethen (“to put (a sword or knife) into a sheath, sheathe; to provide with a sheath; (figuratively) to have sexual intercourse”) [and other forms], then: * probably from Old English *scēaþian; or * possibly from Middle English sheth, shethe (“holder for a sword, knife, etc., scabbard, sheath”) [and other forms] + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). Sheth(e) is derived from Old English sċēaþ (“sheath”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaiþiju, from Proto-Germanic *skaiþiz (“sheath; covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect, split”) (possibly from the notion of a split stick with a sword inserted).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.