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Tuft vs Sheaf - What's the difference?

tuft | sheaf |

In lang=en terms the difference between tuft and sheaf

is that tuft is to be formed into tufts while sheaf is to collect and bind cut grain, or the like; to make sheaves.

As nouns the difference between tuft and sheaf

is that tuft is a bunch of feathers, grass or hair, etc, held together at the base 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 tuft and sheaf

is that tuft is to provide or decorate with a tuft or tufts while sheaf is to gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves; as, to sheaf wheat.

tuft

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A bunch of feathers, grass or hair, etc., held together at the base.
  • A cluster of threads drawn tightly through upholstery, a mattress or a quilt, etc., to secure and strengthen the padding.
  • A small clump of trees or bushes.
  • (historical) A gold tassel on the cap worn by titled undergraduates at English universities.
  • (historical) A person entitled to wear such a tassel.
  • * T. Hughes
    • Several young tufts , and others of the faster men.

    Derived terms

    *tufthunting *tufthunter

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To provide or decorate with a tuft or tufts.
    • (Thomson)
  • To form into tufts.
  • To secure and strengthen (a mattress, quilt, etc.) with tufts.
  • To be formed into tufts.

    • 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