Sheaf

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Sheaf, n. 

 A sheave.  [1913 Webster]

Sheaf, n. [OE. sheef, shef, schef, AS. sceáf; akin to D. schoof, OHG. scoub, G. schaub, Icel. skauf a fox's brush, and E. shove. See Shove.].

•  A quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw.  [1913 Webster]

  "The reaper fills his greedy hands,
  And binds the golden sheaves in brittle bands."  [1913 Webster]
•  Any collection of things bound together; a bundle; specifically, a bundle of arrows sufficient to fill a quiver, or the allowance of each archer, -- usually twenty-four.  [1913 Webster]

  "The sheaf of arrows shook and rattled in the case."  [1913 Webster]

Sheaf, v. t. 

 To gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves; as, to sheaf wheat.  [1913 Webster]

Sheaf, v. i. 

 To collect and bind cut grain, or the like; to make sheaves.  [1913 Webster]
"They that reap must sheaf and bind."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Sheaf, n. & v.
--n. (pl. sheaves) a group of things laid lengthways together and usu. tied, esp. a bundle of cornstalks tied after reaping, or a collection of papers.
--v.tr. make into sheaves.

Etymology

OE sceaf f. Gmc (as SHOVE)

THESAURUS

Sheaf

bale, bindle, bolt, bouquet, budget, bundle, deck, fagot, fardel, fasces, fascine, nosegay, pack, package, packet, parcel, posy, quiver, roll, rouleau, truss

ROGET THESAURUS

Sheaf

Assemblage

N assemblage, collection, collocation, colligation, compilation, levy, gathering, ingathering, muster, attroupement, team, concourse, conflux, congregation, contesseration, convergence, meeting, levee, reunion, drawing room, at home, conversazione, assembly, congress, convention, conventicle, gemote, conclave, posse, posse comitatus, Noah's ark, miscellany, collectanea, museum, menagerie, museology, crowd, throng, group, flood, rush, deluge, rabble, mob, press, crush, cohue, horde, body, tribe, crew, gang, knot, squad, band, party, swarm, shoal, school, covey, flock, herd, drove, atajo, bunch, drive, force, mulada, remuda, roundup, array, bevy, galaxy, corps, company, troop, troupe, task force, army, regiment, host, populousness, clan, brotherhood, fraternity, sorority, association, volley, shower, storm, cloud, group, cluster, Pleiades, clump, pencil, set, batch, lot, pack, budget, assortment, bunch, parcel, packet, package, bundle, fascine, fasces, bale, seron, seroon, fagot, wisp, truss, tuft, shock, rick, fardel, stack, sheaf, haycock, fascicle, fascicule, fasciculus, gavel, hattock, stook, accumulation, congeries, heap, lump, pile, rouleau, tissue, mass, pyramid, bing, drift, snowball, snowdrift, acervation, cumulation, glomeration, agglomeration, conglobation, conglomeration, conglomerate, coacervate, coacervation, coagmentation, aggregation, concentration, congestion, omnium gaterum, spicilegium, black hole of Calcutta, quantity, collector, gatherer, whip, whipper in, assembled, closely packed, dense, serried, crowded to suffocation, teeming, swarming, populous, as thick as hops, all of a heap, fasciculated cumulative, the plot thickens, acervatim, tibi seris tibi metis.