Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Shear
Shear
(shēr)
, Verb.
T.
[
imp.
Sheared
or Shore
;p. p.
Sheared
or Shorn
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Shearing
.] 1.
To cut, clip, or sever anything from with shears or a like instrument;
as, to
. shear
sheep; to shear
cloth☞ 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 fleeceBefore the golden tresses . . . were
shorn
away. Shakespeare
3.
To reap, as grain.
[Scot.]
Jamieson.
4.
Fig.: To deprive of property; to fleece.
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.
Shear
,Verb.
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.
Webster 1828 Edition
Shear
SHEAR
,Verb.
T.
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.