Naut. [f. STERN sb.3 + SHEET sb.2; cf. next.
The parallel of FORE-SHEET, which is however comparatively late, suggests that sense 1 is original, and senses 2, 3 secondary with the general signification ‘the place from which the mizen-sheets are controlled.’ But historical evidence is lacking, and it is not impossible that some other meaning of OE. scéat is the basis of senses 2, 3.]
† 1. pl. The ropes controlling the mizen-sail. Obs.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 15. The misen sheats, are called the starne sheats.
2. sing. and pl. The internal stern portion of a boat; spec. that part abaft the hindmost thwart.
1481. Cely Papers (Camden), 71. j pack lyeth yn the sterne shete.
1568. Adm. Crt. Oyer & Ter., 75. He was in the said catche [ketch] sittinge in the sterne sheates thereof.
a. 1625. Nomenclator Navalis (Harl. MS. 2301), 71. That part with in bord abaft in ye Run of the Shipp is called the Sterne sheats [cf. SHEET sb.2 3 quot. 1644.]
1766. Smollett, Trav., II. 5. There is a tilt over the stern sheets [of the feluca], where the passengers sit.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket Bk., vi. (ed. 2), 226. A similar locker to be built in the after part of the stern sheet for the officers.
1905. ‘Q’ (Quiller-Couch), Shining Ferry, vii. The party settled themselves in the stern sheets.
3. pl. a. The flooring boards in the after portion of a boat or small ship.
1644, 1898. [see SHEET sb.2 3].
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), s.v. Sheats, Stern-Sheats, the Planks that are within board abaft in the Run of the Ship.
b. The seats with which the after portion of a boat is furnished.
1912. ‘G. A. Birmingham,’ Inviolable Sanctuary, xviii. 280. She herself pulled a spinnaker from beneath the stern-sheets.
