sheave
1 Americanverb (used with object)
noun
-
a pulley for hoisting or hauling, having a grooved rim for retaining a wire rope.
-
a wheel with a grooved rim, for transmitting force to a cable or belt.
verb
noun
Etymology
Origin of sheave1
First recorded in 1570–80; derivative of sheaf
Origin of sheave2
1300–50; Middle English schive; akin to Dutch schijf sheave, German Scheibe disk
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The sheave, or wheel, on which the rope runs.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir
Then the length of the corrected base-line is multiplied by the height of the mast, taken from the deck to the sheave on the topmast, and the result is divided by two.
From Harper's Round Table, September 3, 1895 by Various
Beyond was the massive sheave block; the cables ran dizzily down to the concrete drilling floor so far below.
From Two Thousand Miles Below by Diffin, Charles Willard
A circular shouldered piece of metal, usually of brass, let into the lignum vitæ sheaves of such blocks as have iron pins, thereby preventing the sheave from wearing, without adding much to its weight.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir
Overhead the tramp of feet was to be heard, followed by the whine of a rope running through a sheave.
From A Cabinet Secret by Boothby, Guy Newell
Acre after acre of sheaved flax awaits gathering.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Or like a juicy and jostling shock Of bluebells sheaved in May Or wind-long fleeces on the flock A day off shearing day.
From Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins Now First Published by Bridges, Robert Seymour
Now the high Autumn flames afield, And what is all his golden yield To that we took, and sheaved, and bound In the green dusk that gladdened round?
From Hawthorn and Lavender with Other Verses by Henley, William Ernest
The sheaved blocks used for the running rigging consisted of the shell, the sheaves, which revolved within the shell, and the pins which fastened them together.
From Industrial Biography, Iron Workers and Tool Makers by Smiles, Samuel
Mingled arrows each one sheaved; Death's dread armoury was stored With the shafts he most abhorred; Love's light quiver groaned beneath Venom-headed darts of Death.
From Verses 1889-1896 by Kipling, Rudyard
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.