What does "sleeve" mean?
Sleeve: The part of a garment which covers the arm; as, the sleeve of a coat or a gown. Chaucer.
Additional senses
- 2.A narrow channel of water. [R.] The Celtic Sea, called oftentimes the Sleeve. Drayton.
- 3.(Mach.) (a) A tubular part made to cover, sustain, or steady another part, or to form a connection between two parts. (b) A long bushing or thimble, as in the nave of a wheel. (c) A short piece of pipe used for covering a joint, or forming a joint between the ends of two other pipes. Sleeve button, a detachable button to fasten the wristband or cuff. -- Sleeve links, two bars or buttons linked together, and used to fasten a cuff or wristband. -- To laugh in the sleeve, to laugh privately or unperceived, especially while apparently preserving a grave or serious demeanor toward the person or persons laughed at; that is, perhaps, originally, by hiding the face in the wide sleeves of former times. -- To pin, or hang, on the sleeve of, to be, or make, dependent upon.
- 4.To furnish with sleeves; to put sleeves into; as, to sleeve a coat.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00