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Sheaf vs Pile - What's the difference?

sheaf | pile | Related terms |

Sheaf is a related term of pile.


As nouns the difference between sheaf and pile

is that sheaf is a quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw while pile is diligence.

As a verb sheaf

is to gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves; as, to sheaf wheat.

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

    pile

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) . Cognate with Dutch pijl, German Pfeil.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A dart; an arrow.
  • The head of an arrow or spear.
  • A large stake, or piece of pointed timber, steel etc., driven into the earth or sea-bed for the support of a building, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1719
  • , edition=10th edition , year_published=1864 , author= , title= , chapter= , section=Chapter VI citation , page=68 , passage=All this time I worked very hard [...] and it is scarce credible what inexpressible labour everything was done with, especially the bringing piles out of the woods and driving them into the ground; for I made them much bigger than I needed to have done.}}
  • (heraldiccharge) One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost.
  • Derived terms
    * pile bridge * pile cap * pile driver * pile dwelling * pile engine * pile plank * pneumatic pile * screw pile

    Verb

    (pil)
  • To drive s into; to fill with piles; to strengthen with piles.
  • Etymology 2

    Apparently from pilus.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (usually in plural) A hemorrhoid.
  • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) pile, (pille), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A mass of things heaped together; a heap.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1889
  • , author= , title= , volume_plain=Book II: The Fall of Harmachis , section=Chapter XI citation , isbn=1555211224 , page= , passage=I climbed through, and, standing on a pile of stones, lifted and dragged Cleopatra after me.}}
  • (figuratively, informal) A group or list of related items up for consideration, especially in some kind of selection process.
  • When we were looking for a new housemate, we put the nice woman on the "maybe" pile''', and the annoying guy on the "no" '''pile .
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
  • , date=December 29 , author=Keith Jackson , title=SPL: Celtic 1 Rangers 0 , work=Daily Record citation , page= , passage=And the moment it thumped into the net, Celtic’s march back to the top of the SPL pile also seemed unstoppable.}}
  • A mass formed in layers.
  • a pile of shot
  • A funeral pile; a pyre.
  • (Dryden)
  • A large building, or mass of buildings.
  • * Dryden
  • The pile o'erlooked the town and drew the fight.
  • * 1817 , (Walter Scott), Rob Roy , II.2:
  • The pile is of a gloomy and massive, rather than of an elegant, style of Gothic architecture
  • * Thomas Hardy, The Well-Beloved
  • It was dark when the four-wheeled cab wherein he had brought Avice from the station stood at the entrance to the pile of flats of which Pierston occupied one floor
  • A bundle of pieces of wrought iron to be worked over into bars or other shapes by rolling or hammering at a welding heat; a fagot.
  • A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals, as copper and zinc, laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; — commonly called Volta’s pile, voltaic pile, or galvanic pile.
  • (obsolete) The reverse (or tails) of a coin.
  • (figuratively) A list or league
  • * '>citation
  • Watch Harlequins train and you get some idea of why they are back on top of the pile going into Saturday's rerun of last season's grand final against Leicester.
    Synonyms
    * See also

    Verb

    (pil)
  • To lay or throw into a pile or heap; to heap up; to collect into a mass; to accumulate; to amass; — often with up; as, to pile up wood.
  • To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}
  • To add something to a great number.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 28, author=Owen Phillips, work=BBC
  • , title= Sunderland 0-2 Blackpool , passage=But as the second half wore on, Sunderland piled forward at every opportunity and their relentless pressure looked certain to be rewarded in the closing stages. }}
  • (of vehicles) To create a hold-up.
  • (military) To place (guns, muskets, etc.) together in threes so that they can stand upright, supporting each other.
  • Etymology 4

    Partly from (etyl) pil (a variant of peil, .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Hair, especially when very fine or short; the fine underfur of certain animals. (Formerly countable, now treated as a collective singular.)
  • The raised hairs, loops or strands of a fabric; the nap of a cloth.
  • * (William Cowper)
  • Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile .