Adjacent Words

shearing definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: removing by cutting off or clipping

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

Shearing Shear"ing, n. 1. The act or operation of clipping with shears or a shearing machine, as the wool from sheep, or the nap from cloth. 2. The product of the act or operation of clipping with shears or a shearing machine; as, the whole shearing of a flock; the shearings from cloth. 3. Same as Shearling. --Youatt. 4. The act or operation of reaping. [Scot.] 5. The act or operation of dividing with shears; as, the shearing of metal plates. 6. The process of preparing shear steel; tilting. 7. (Mining) The process of making a vertical side cutting in working into a face of coal. Shearing machine. (a) A machine with blades, or rotary disks, for dividing plates or bars of metal. (b) A machine for shearing cloth.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

see shear