Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A sheet for wrapping a corpse; a shroud.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Finally, the huge gold coach carrying plaster models of Christ in a real damp fluttering winding-sheet and his disciples.

    Wind and heavy rain greet Britons who headed for Spanish sun at Easter 2011

  • But — faugh! — this moral linen of yours smells tainted, just like a winding-sheet.

    Pillars of Society 2008

  • Carbon dating tests carried out in 1988 indicated that the shroud, long revered as the winding-sheet in which the body of Jesus was wrapped for burial and bearing his imprint, had been made between 1260 and 1390.

    Archive 2008-08-01 Jan 2008

  • He stood astonished on the threshold, one hand on the handle of the half-open door, with his head bent a little forward and quivering, his body wrapped in a white dressing-gown, which was straight and as destitute of folds as a winding-sheet; and he had the air of a phantom who is gazing into a tomb.

    Les Miserables 2008

  • Carbon dating tests carried out in 1988 indicated that the shroud, long revered as the winding-sheet in which the body of Jesus was wrapped for burial and bearing his imprint, had been made between 1260 and 1390.

    Turin Shroud Update Jan 2008

  • For the eye of the thinker, all historic murderers are to be found there, in that hideous penumbra, on their knees, with a scrap of their winding-sheet for an apron, dismally sponging out their work.

    Les Miserables 2008

  • Nevertheless, by dint of gazing intently he thought he perceived on the ground something which appeared to be covered with a winding-sheet, and which resembled a human form.

    Les Miserables 2008

  • A black sky rested on these dead streets, as though an immense winding-sheet were being outspread over this immense tomb.

    Les Miserables 2008

  • But — faugh! — this moral linen of yours smells tainted, just like a winding-sheet.

    Pillars of Society 2008

  • All unconsciously Lucien stood with the palm of genius on the one hand and a shameful ending in the hulks upon the other; and, on high upon the Sinai of the prophets, beheld no Dead Sea covering the cities of the plain — the hideous winding-sheet of

    Two Poets 2007

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