winding-sheet n burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped Usage(s) Dracula is an exciting melodrama, not as good as it ought to be but a cut above the ordinary trapdoor-and-winding-sheet type of mystery film. And the sepulchral whiteness of the sheep, like the winding-sheet pallor of Melville's deathly White Whale, is a nice touch. Synonym(s) pall shroud cerement winding-clothes