*heath*

n. [ OE. heth waste land, the plant heath, AS. h&aemacr_;ð; akin to D. & G. heide, Icel. heiðr waste land, Dan. hede, Sw. hed, Goth. haiþi field, L. bucetum a cow pasture; cf. W. coed a wood, Skr. kshētra field. √20. ] 1. (Bot.) (a) A low shrub (Erica vulgaris or Calluna vulgaris), with minute evergreen leaves, and handsome clusters of pink flowers. It is used in Great Britain for brooms, thatch, beds for the poor, and for heating ovens. It is also called heather, and ling. (b) Also, any species of the genus Erica, of which several are European, and many more are South African, some of great beauty. See Illust. of Heather. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A place overgrown with heath; any cheerless tract of country overgrown with shrubs or coarse herbage. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their stately growth, though bare,
Stands on the blasted heath. Milton [ 1913 Webster ]

Heath cock (Zool.), the blackcock. See Heath grouse (below). --
Heath grass (Bot.), a kind of perennial grass, of the genus Triodia (Triodia decumbens), growing on dry heaths. --
Heath grouse, or
Heath game (Zool.), a European grouse (Tetrao tetrix), which inhabits heaths; -- called also black game, black grouse, heath poult, heath fowl, moor fowl. The male is called heath cock, and blackcock; the female, heath hen, and gray hen. --
Heath hen. (Zool.) See Heath grouse (above). --
Heath pea (Bot.), a species of bitter vetch (Lathyrus macrorhizus), the tubers of which are eaten, and in Scotland are used to flavor whisky. --
Heath throstle (Zool.), a European thrush which frequents heaths; the ring ouzel. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Clad or crowned with heath. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Heathens r collectively Heathen. [ OE. hethen, AS. h&aemacr_;ðen, prop. an adj. fr. h&aemacr_;ð heath, and orig., therefore, one who lives in the country or on the heaths and in the woods (cf. pagan, fr. pagus village); akin to OS. hēðin, adj., D. heiden a heathen, G. heide, OHG. heidan, Icel. heiðinn, adj., Sw. heden, Goth. haiþnō, n. fem. See Heath, and cf. Hoiden. ] 1. An individual of the pagan or unbelieving nations, or those which worship idols and do not acknowledge the true God; a pagan; an idolater. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An irreligious person. [ 1913 Webster ]

If it is no more than a moral discourse, he may preach it and they may hear it, and yet both continue unconverted heathens. V. Knox. [ 1913 Webster ]

The heathen, as the term is used in the Scriptures, all people except the Jews; now used of all people except Christians, Jews, and Muslims. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. Ps. ii. 8.

Syn. -- Pagan; gentile. See Pagan. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Gentile; pagan; as, a heathen author. “The heathen philosopher.” “All in gold, like heathen gods.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Barbarous; unenlightened; heathenish. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Irreligious; scoffing. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. h&aemacr_;ðendōm. ] 1. That part of the world where heathenism prevails; the heathen nations, considered collectively. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Heathenism. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. h&aemacr_;ðennes, i. e., heathenness. ] Heathendom. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ AS. h&aemacr_;ðenisc. ] 1. Of or pertaining to the heathen; resembling or characteristic of heathens. “Worse than heathenish crimes.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Rude; uncivilized; savage; cruel. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Irreligious; as, a heathenish way of living. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a heathenish manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or quality of being heathenish. “The . . . heathenishness and profaneness of most playbooks.” Prynne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The religious system or rites of a heathen nation; idolatry; paganism. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The manners or morals usually prevalent in a heathen country; ignorance; rudeness; barbarism. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Heathenized p. pr. & vb. n. Heathenizing ] To render heathen or heathenish. Firmin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Heathenesse. ] State of being heathen or like the heathen. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The state, quality, or character of the heathen. [ 1913 Webster ]

Your heathenry and your laziness. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Heathendom; heathen nations. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Heath. ] Heath. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Gorse and grass
And heather, where his footsteps pass,
The brighter seem. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Heather bell (Bot.), one of the pretty subglobose flowers of two European kinds of heather (Erica Tetralix, and Erica cinerea). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Heathy; abounding in heather; of the nature of heath. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A large Northern European black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix formerly Tetrao tetrix) with a lyre-shaped tail; it is also called heath grouse, black game, black grouse, heath poult, heath fowl, and moor fowl. See heath grouse under heath, above.
Syn. -- European black grouse, Lyrurus tetrix. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Full of heath; abounding with heath; as, heathy land; heathy hills. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To insert as in a sheath; to sheathe. Hughes. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Sheathed by mistake; wrongly sheathed; sheathed in a wrong place. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ So called from Theodor Schwann, a German anatomist of the 19th century. ] (Anat.) The neurilemma. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Bot.) A low perennial plant (Frankenia laevis) resembling heath, growing along the seashore in Europe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. schethe, AS. sc&aemacr_;ð, sceáð, scēð; akin to OS. skēðia, D. scheede, G. scheide, OHG. sceida, Sw. skida, Dan. skede, Icel. skeiðir, pl., and to E. shed, v.t., originally meaning, to separate, to part. See Shed. ] 1. A case for the reception of a sword, hunting knife, or other long and slender instrument; a scabbard. [ 1913 Webster ]

The dead knight's sword out of his sheath he drew. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any sheathlike covering, organ, or part. Specifically: (a) (Bot.) The base of a leaf when sheathing or investing a stem or branch, as in grasses. (b) (Zool.) One of the elytra of an insect. [ 1913 Webster ]

Medullary sheath. (Anat.) See under Medullary. --
Primitive sheath. (Anat.) See Neurilemma. --
Sheath knife, a knife with a fixed blade, carried in a sheath. --
Sheath of Schwann. (Anat.) See Schwann's sheath. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Either one of two species of birds composing the genus Chionis, and family Chionidae, native of the islands of the Antarctic seas. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ They are related to the gulls and the plovers, but more nearly to the latter. The base of the bill is covered with a saddle-shaped horny sheath, and the toes are only slightly webbed. The plumage of both species is white. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Sheathed p. pr. & vb. n. Sheating. ] [ Written also sheath. ] 1. To put into a sheath, case, or scabbard; to inclose or cover with, or as with, a sheath or case. [ 1913 Webster ]

The leopard . . . keeps the claws of his fore feet turned up from the ground, and sheathed in the skin of his toes. Grew. [ 1913 Webster ]

'T is in my breast she sheathes her dagger now. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To fit or furnish, as with a sheath. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To case or cover with something which protects, as thin boards, sheets of metal, and the like; as, to sheathe a ship with copper. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To obtund or blunt, as acrimonious substances, or sharp particles. [ R. ] Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

To sheathe the sword, to make peace. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Povided with, or inclosed in, sheath. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Invested by a sheath, or cylindrical membranaceous tube, which is the base of the leaf, as the stalk or culm in grasses; vaginate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who sheathes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Same as Sheatfish. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. pr. & a. from Sheathe. Inclosing with a sheath; as, the sheathing leaves of grasses; the sheathing stipules of many polygonaceous plants. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. That which sheathes. Specifically: (a) The casing or covering of a ship's bottom and sides; the materials for such covering; as, copper sheathing. (b) (Arch.) The first covering of boards on the outside wall of a frame house or on a timber roof; also, the material used for covering; ceiling boards in general. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without a sheath or case for covering; unsheathed. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Having elytra, or wing cases, as a beetle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Forming or resembling a sheath or case. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]