The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sheet \Sheet\, n. [OE. shete, schete, AS. sc[=e]te, sc[=y]te, fr. sce['a]t a projecting corner, a fold in a garment (akin to D. schoot sheet, bosom, lap, G. schoss bosom, lap, flap of a coat, Icel. skaut, Goth. skauts the hem of a garment); originally, that which shoots out, from the root of AS. sce['o]tan to shoot. [root]159. See Shoot, v. t.] In general, a large, broad piece of anything thin, as paper, cloth, etc.; a broad, thin portion of any substance; an expanded superficies. Specifically: (a) A broad piece of cloth, usually linen or cotton, used for wrapping the body or for a covering; especially, one used as an article of bedding next to the body. He fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners. --Acts x. 10, 1
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If I do die before thee, prithee, shroud me In one of those same sheets.
--Shak. (b) A broad piece of paper, whether folded or unfolded, whether blank or written or printed upon; hence, a letter; a newspaper, etc. (c) A single signature of a book or a pamphlet; in pl., the book itself.To this the following sheets are intended for a full and distinct answer.
--Waterland. (d) A broad, thinly expanded portion of metal or other substance; as, a sheet of copper, of glass, or the like; a plate; a leaf. (e) A broad expanse of water, or the like. ``The two beautiful sheets of water.''
--Macaulay. (f) A sail.
--Dryden. (g) (Geol.) An extensive bed of an eruptive rock intruded between, or overlying, other strata. -
[AS. sce['a]ta. See the Etymology above.] (Naut.)
A rope or chain which regulates the angle of adjustment of a sail in relation in relation to the wind; -- usually attached to the lower corner of a sail, or to a yard or a boom.
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pl. The space in the forward or the after part of a boat where there are no rowers; as, fore sheets; stern sheets.
Note: Sheet is often used adjectively, or in combination, to denote that the substance to the name of which it is prefixed is in the form of sheets, or thin plates or leaves; as, sheet brass, or sheet-brass; sheet glass, or sheet-glass; sheet gold, or sheet-gold; sheet iron, or sheet-iron, etc.
A sheet in the wind, half drunk. [Sailors' Slang]
Both sheets in the wind, very drunk. [Sailors' Slang]
In sheets, lying flat or expanded; not folded, or folded but not bound; -- said especially of printed sheets.
Sheet bend (Naut.), a bend or hitch used for temporarily fastening a rope to the bight of another rope or to an eye.
Sheet lightning, Sheet piling, etc. See under Lightning, Piling, etc.
Wiktionary
adv. Of rain or other precipitation, very hard
Usage examples of "in sheets".
Odd, he thought, that a woman performing the simple task of tucking in sheets should look so outrageously sexy.
With everything braced up sharp, and carrying every inch of sail that the brisk trade wind would allow, she lay steeply over, plunging through the sea, each wave in turn bursting on her weather bow with the spray flying aft in sheets, and the taut weather-rigging shrieking in the wind.
This had been brought to him wrapped in sheets and carried by men with gloves.
Water battered down in sheets and bounced off everything it struck.
You're two days out of San Diego on the USS Bexar and rain sweeps in sheets across the ship.
The snow was coming down in sheets, blowing back and forth across the open space between the trees and the house.
There was soft, relaxing music, playing and a scented candle burned beside a table that was draped in sheets.
They were staring at the smoking corpse of the morningstar man, their eyes like holes in sheets.
Strip his mattress of the grubby blanket and lie on it (it must have been '41 when he last slept in sheets-- that was at home.
The canon rang with the echoes, while the spray flew in sheets against the smooth, glistening, sandstone walls.
Dawn broke in sheets of cold, grey rain over hunched trees and lifeless fields.
It was warm enough there, but the water was in the streams or falling from the sky in sheets.