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  1. sleeve love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A part of a garment that covers all or part of an arm.
  2. n. A case into which an object or device fits: a record sleeve.
  3. v. To furnish or fit with sleeves or a sleeve.
  4. idiom. up (one's) sleeve Hidden but ready to be used: I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. That part of a garment which forms a covering for the arm: as, the sleeve of a coat or a gown. At different times during the middle ages extraordinarily long, pendent sleeves were in use, sometimes reaching the ground, and at other times a mere band or strip of stuff, single or double, hung from the arm, and was generally called a hanging sleeve, although the actual sleeve was independent of it. Japanese ceremonial costume also has sleeves of remarkable length and width, the arm being generally passed through a hole in the side of the sleeve.
  2. n. In mech., a tube into which a rod or another tube is inserted. If small. it is often called a thimble; when fixed and serving merely to strengthen the object which it incloses, it is called a reinforce. In most of its applications, however, the two parts have more or less relative circular or longitudinal motion. E. H. Knight.
  3. To furnish with a sleeve or with sleeves; make with sleeves.
  4. To put in a sleeve or sleeves.
  5. See sleave.
  6. n. Specifically. A hollow tube or cylinder inserted into some structural detail, so that some other element may pass freely through, such as a sleeve in a wall to allow a shaft to pass through, or a pipe or conduit.
  7. n. A square of cloth or other flexible material through the center of which a catheter is passed and tied. It is then inserted into a canal to be tamponed, and the space between the catheter and its cloth covering is packed with pledgets of cotton, worsted yarn, or other material.
  8. In mech., to fasten or adjust in the manner of a sleeve.
  9. To attach or operate by a sleeve. See sleeve, n., 2.

Wiktionary

  1. v. transitive to fit a sleeve to

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. See sleave, untwisted thread.
  2. n. The part of a garment which covers the arm.
  3. n. rare A narrow channel of water.
  4. n. A tubular part made to cover, sustain, or steady another part, or to form a connection between two parts.
  5. n. A long bushing or thimble, as in the nave of a wheel.
  6. n. A short piece of pipe used for covering a joint, or forming a joint between the ends of two other pipes.
  7. n. (Elec.) A double tube of copper, in section like the figure 8, into which the ends of bare wires are pushed so that when the tube is twisted an electrical connection is made. The joint thus made is called a McIntire joint.
  8. v. To furnish with sleeves; to put sleeves into.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. the part of a garment that is attached at the armhole and that provides a cloth covering for the arm
  2. n. small case into which an object fits

Etymologies

  1. From Middle English sleve, from Old English sliefe, slefe. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English sleve, from Old English slēf; see sleubh- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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Lists

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Comments

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  • reesetee I'd wager that we can't do much about it, though, since the man died in 2000. :-/ Jun 6, 2011

  • sionnach You know, I don't really care what Jack and Stephen get up to in the bath -- they can amuse themselves by farting in the bathwater and attempting to bite the bubbles, as far as I'm concerned.

    But I am horrified by the type of writing exemplified by Jack's ridiculous question, which makes no sense at all, at any level, real or metaphoric.

    I will don my pointy pedant-hat to make two points:

    1. the word is "sleave", not "sleeve" (sleave = a woven or threaded skein of yarn)

    2. "sore labour's bath" is a reference to sleep, so the conjunction 'and' makes no sense, unless they plan to attempt the D minor double sonata in their sleep. Is Stephen agreeing to a little night music, or to getting some beauty rest? *

    I call shenanigans on Mr O' Brian's faux-erudition. If he wants to lard his writing with Shakespearean references, he should take the trouble to get them right.

    *: OK, granted that Jack might be proposing a little night music, followed by 40 winks, but given O' Brian's propagation of the 'sleeve' error, I'm inclined to think it's just another example of sloppy writing. Jun 6, 2011

  • chained_bear "'Shall we make an attempt upon the D minor double sonata?' said Jack, 'and knit up the ravelled sleeve of care with sore labour's bath?'

    "'By all means,' said Stephen. 'A better way of dealing with a sleeve cannot be imagined.'"
    --Patrick O'Brian, The Ionian Mission, 48 Feb 10, 2008

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‘sleeve’ has been looked up 2203 times, added to 10 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 9.