Adjacent Words

Shear definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SHEAR, v.t. pret. sheared; pp. sheared or shorn. The old pret. shore is entirely obsolete.
1. To cut or clip something from the surface with an instrument of two blades; to separate any thing from the surface by shears, scissors or a like instrument; as, to shear sheep; to shear cloth. It is appropriately used for the cutting of wool from sheep on their skins, for clipping the nap from cloth, but may be applied to other things; as, a horse shears the ground in feeding much closer than an ox.
2. To separate by shears; as, to shear a fleece.
3. To reap. [Not in use.] Scotish.
SHEAR, To deviate. [See Sheer.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: (physics) a deformation of an object in which parallel planes remain parallel but are shifted in a direction parallel to themselves; "the shear changed the quadrilateral into a parallelogram"
2: a large edge tool that cuts sheet metal by passing a blade through it v
1: cut with shears; "shear hedges"
2: shear the wool from; "shear sheep" [syn: fleece, shear]
3: cut or cut through with shears; "shear the wool off the lamb"
4: become deformed by forces tending to produce a shearing strain

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (sheared; sheared or shorn; shearing) Etymology: Middle English sheren, from Old English scieran; akin to Old Norse skera to cut, Latin curtus mutilated, curtailed, Greek keirein to cut, shear, Sanskrit k?n?ti he injures Date: before 12th century transitive verb 1. a. to cut off the hair from <with crown shorn> b. to cut or clip (as hair or wool) from someone or something; also to cut something from <shear a lawn> c. chiefly Scottish to reap with a sickle d. to cut or trim with shears or a similar instrument 2. to cut with something sharp 3. to deprive of something as if by cutting <lives shorn of any hope — M. W. Browne> 4. a. to subject to a shear force b. to cause (as a rock mass) to move along the plane of contact intransitive verb 1. to cut through something with or as if with a sharp instrument 2. chiefly Scottish to reap crops with a sickle 3. to become divided under the action of a shear <the bolt may shear off> • shearer noun II. noun Date: before 12th century 1. a. (1) a cutting implement similar or identical to a pair of scissors but typically larger — usually used in plural (2) one blade of a pair of shears b. any of various cutting tools or machines operating by the action of opposed cutting edges of metal — usually used in plural c. (1) something resembling a shear or a pair of shears (2) a hoisting apparatus consisting of two or sometimes more upright spars fastened together at their upper ends and having tackle for masting or dismasting ships or lifting heavy loads (as guns) — usually used in plural but sing. or plural in constr. 2. chiefly British the action or process or an instance of shearing — used in combination to indicate the approximate age of sheep in terms of shearings undergone 3. a. internal force tangential to the section on which it acts — called also shearing force b. an action or stress resulting from applied forces that causes or tends to cause two contiguous parts of a body to slide relatively to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. (past sheared, archaic except Austral. & NZ shore; past part. shorn or sheared) 1 tr. cut with scissors or shears etc. 2 tr. remove or take off by cutting. 3 tr. clip the wool off (a sheep etc.). 4 tr. (foll. by of) a strip bare. b deprive. 5 tr. & intr. (often foll. by off) distort or be distorted, or break, from a structural strain. --n. 1 Mech. & Geol. a strain produced by pressure in the structure of a substance, when its layers are laterally shifted in relation to each other. 2 (in pl.) (also pair of shears sing.) a large clipping or cutting instrument shaped like scissors for use in gardens etc. Derivatives: shearer n. Etymology: OE sceran f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Shear Shear, v. t. [imp. Shearedor Shore;p. p. Sheared or Shorn; p. pr. & vb. n. Shearing.] [OE. sheren, scheren, to shear, cut, shave, AS. sceran, scieran, scyran; akin to D. & G. scheren, Icel. skera, Dan. ski?re, Gr. ???. Cf. Jeer, Score, Shard, Share, Sheer to turn aside.] 1. To cut, clip, or sever anything from with shears or a like instrument; as, to shear sheep; to shear cloth. Note: It is especially applied to the cutting of wool from sheep or their skins, and the nap from cloth. 2. To separate or sever with shears or a similar instrument; to cut off; to clip (something) from a surface; as, to shear a fleece. Before the golden tresses . . . were shorn away. --Shak. 3. To reap, as grain. [Scot.] --Jamieson. 4. Fig.: To deprive of property; to fleece. 5. (Mech.) To produce a change of shape in by a shear. See Shear, n., 4.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Shear Shear, n. [AS. sceara. See Shear, v. t.] 1. A pair of shears; -- now always used in the plural, but formerly also in the singular. See Shears. On his head came razor none, nor shear. --Chaucer. Short of the wool, and naked from the shear. --Dryden. 2. A shearing; -- used in designating the age of sheep. After the second shearing, he is a two-shear ram; . . . at the expiration of another year, he is a three-shear ram; the name always taking its date from the time of shearing. --Youatt. 3. (Engin.) An action, resulting from applied forces, which tends to cause two contiguous parts of a body to slide relatively to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact; -- also called shearing stress, and tangential stress. 4. (Mech.) A strain, or change of shape, of an elastic body, consisting of an extension in one direction, an equal compression in a perpendicular direction, with an unchanged magnitude in the third direction. Shear blade, one of the blades of shears or a shearing machine. Shear hulk. See under Hulk. Shear steel, a steel suitable for shears, scythes, and other cutting instruments, prepared from fagots of blistered steel by repeated heating, rolling, and tilting, to increase its malleability and fineness of texture.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Shear Shear, v. i. 1. To deviate. See Sheer. 2. (Engin.) To become more or less completely divided, as a body under the action of forces, by the sliding of two contiguous parts relatively to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(shears, shearing, sheared, shorn) 1. To shear a sheep means to cut its wool off. In the Hebrides they shear their sheep later than anywhere else. VERB: V n • shearing ...a display of sheep shearing. 2. A pair of shears is a garden tool like a very large pair of scissors. Shears are used especially for cutting hedges. Trim the shrubs with shears. N-PLURAL: also a pair of N

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

sher.

See SHEEP; SHEEP TENDING.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Cut, clip. 2. Strip, fleece, plunder. II. v. n. 1. Cut, penetrate. 2. Deviate, swerve, turn aside. See sheer.

Moby Thesaurus

abbreviate, abridge, abscind, abstract, amputate, annihilate, ban, bar, barb, barber, bare, bleed, bleed white, bob, boil down, capsulize, clip, compress, condense, contract, crop, cull, curtail, cut, cut away, cut back, cut down, cut off, cut off short, cut out, cut short, denudate, denude, deplume, despoil, displume, divest, dock, drain, dry, elide, eliminate, enucleate, epitomize, eradicate, except, excise, exclude, exhaust, expose, extinguish, extirpate, flay, fleece, foreshorten, impoverish, isolate, knock off, lay bare, lay open, lop, manicure, milk, mow, mutilate, nip, pare, peel, pick clean, pick out, pluck, poll, pollard, prune, reap, recap, recapitulate, reduce, remove, retrench, root out, rule out, set apart, set aside, shave, shorten, skin, skive, snip, snub, stamp out, strike off, strip, strip bare, strip off, stunt, suck dry, sum up, summarize, synopsize, take in, take off, take out, telescope, trim, truncate, uncloak, uncover, unsheathe, unveil, wipe out