SHEATHS

Noun

sheaths

plural of sheath

Source: Wiktionary

SHEATH

Sheath, n. Etym: [OE. schethe, AS. scæedh, sceáedh, sceedh; akin to OS. skeedhia, D. scheede, G. scheide, OHG. sceida, Sw. skida, Dan. skede, Icel. skeiedhir, pl., and to E. shed, v.t., originally meaning, to separate, to part. See Shed.]

1. A case for the reception of a sword, hunting knife, or other long and slender instrument; a scabbard. The dead knight's sword out of his sheath he drew. Spenser.

2. Any sheathlike covering, organ, or part. Specifically: (a) (Bot.) The base of a leaf when sheathing or investing a stem or branch, as in grasses. (b) (Zoöl.) One of the elytra of an insect. Medullary sheath. (Anat.) See under Medullary.

– Primitive sheath. (Anat.) See Neurilemma.

– Sheath knife, a knife with a fixed blade, carried in a sheath.

– Sheath of Schwann. (Anat.) See Schwann's sheath.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition