sheave

Etymology 1

Middle English, from a Germanic base akin to German Scheibe, late Old Norse skífa (“slice”), all ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to split”). For more see shive.

noun

1. A wheel having a groove in the rim for a rope to work in, and set in a block, mast, or similar; the wheel of a pulley.
   To an exceptional degree the duties on these inclines have been passed on from father to son; many a boy has begun his working life in oiling the sheaves and, after passing through every grade, has reached the age of retirement in the responsible position of brakesman. 1942 September and October, Charles E. Lee, “The Stanhope & Tyne Railway: II–Self-Acting Inclines”, in Railway Magazine, page 263
2. A sliding scutcheon for covering a keyhole.

Etymology 2

See sheaf.

verb

1. To gather and bind into a sheaf.
   From him did forty million serfs (...) receive Rich freeborn lifelong land, whereon to sheave Their country's harvest. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Czar Alexander the Second, lines 1-4