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Hay vs Sheaf - What's the difference?

hay | sheaf |

As nouns the difference between hay and sheaf

is that hay is grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder while sheaf is a quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw.

As verbs the difference between hay and sheaf

is that hay is to cut grasses or herb plants for use as animal fodder while sheaf is to gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves; as, to sheaf wheat.

hay

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) (m), from (etyl) . More at (l).

Noun

  • (uncountable) Grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder.
  • * Camden
    • Make hay while the sun shines.
  • * C. L. Flint
    • Hay may be dried too much as well as too little.
  • (countable) Any mix of green leafy plants used for fodder.
  • (slang) Cannabis; marijuana.
  • * 1947 , William Burroughs, letter, 19 Feb 1947:
    • I would like some of that hay . Enclose $20.
  • A net set around the haunt of an animal, especially a rabbit.
    • (Rowe)
  • (obsolete) A hedge.
  • (obsolete) A circular country dance.
    • to dance the hay
    Derived terms
    * hay fever * hayloft, hay loft * haystack * hayward * hit the hay * make hay while the sun shines
    External links
    * (wikipedia)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cut grasses or herb plants for use as animal fodder.
  • To lay snares for rabbits.
    • (Huloet)

    Related terms

    * bale * straw

    References

    Webster's Online Dictionary article on hay

    Etymology 2

    : From the sound it represents, by analogy with other letters such as kay'' and ''gay''. The expected form in English if the ''h'' had survived in the Latin name of the letter "h", ''h? .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The name of the letter for the h sound in Pitman shorthand.
    • Related terms
    * aitch, the name of the Latin letter for this sound

    Anagrams

    * * * ----

    sheaf

    English

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • A quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw.
  • * 1593 , (William Shakespeare), Titus Andronicus , Act V, Scene III, line 70:
    • O, let me teach you how to knit again / This scattered corn into one mutual sheaf , / These broken limbs again into one body.
  • * (rfdate) (John Dryden):
    • The reaper fills his greedy hands, / And binds the golden sheaves in brittle bands.
  • Any collection of things bound together; a bundle.
    • a sheaf of paper
  • A bundle of arrows sufficient to fill a quiver, or the allowance of each archer.
  • * (rfdate) (John Dryden):
    • The sheaf of arrows shook and rattled in the case.
  • A quantity of arrows, usually twenty-four.
  • * 1786 , Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons , page 34:
    • Arrows were anciently made of reeds, afterwards of cornel wood, and occasionally of every species of wood: but according to Roger Ascham, ash was best; arrows were reckoned by sheaves', a ' sheaf consisted of twenty-four arrows.
  • (mechanical) A sheave.
  • (mathematics) An abstract construct in topology that associates data to the open sets of a topological space, together with well-defined restrictions from larger to smaller open sets, subject to the condition that compatible data on overlapping open sets corresponds, via the restrictions, to a unique datum on the union of the open sets.
  • *

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves; as, to sheaf wheat.
  • To collect and bind cut grain, or the like; to make sheaves.
  • * 1599 , William Shakespeare, As You Like It , Act III, Scene II, line 107:
    • They that reap must sheaf and bind; Then to cart with Rosalind.
    English nouns with irregular plurals