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Webster 1913 Edition

Shear

Shear

(shēr)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp.
Sheared
or
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[GREEK]re
, Gr. [GREEK][GREEK][GREEK]. 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
.
☞ 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.
Shakespeare
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
,
Noun.
, 4.

Shear

,
Noun.
[AS.
sceara
. See
Shear
,
Verb.
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.

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.
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.]

Definition 2024

shear

shear

English

Verb

shear ‎(third-person singular simple present shears, present participle shearing, simple past sheared or shore, past participle shorn or sheared)

  1. To cut, originally with a sword or other bladed weapon, now usually with shears, or as if using shears.
    • 1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe:
      So trenchant was the Templar’s weapon, that it shore asunder, as it had been a willow twig, the tough and plaited handle of the mace, which the ill-fated Saxon reared to parry the blow, and, descending on his head, levelled him with the earth.
    • Shakespeare
      the golden tresses […] were shorn away
  2. To remove the fleece from a sheep etc by clipping.
  3. (physics) To deform because of forces pushing in opposite directions.
  4. (Scotland) To reap, as grain.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Jamieson to this entry?)
  5. (figuratively) To deprive of property; to fleece.

Translations

Noun

shear ‎(plural shears)

  1. a cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger
    • Dryden
      short of the wool, and naked from the shear
  2. the act of shearing, or something removed by shearing
    • Youatt
      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.
  3. (physics) forces that push in opposite directions.
  4. (geology) The response of a rock to deformation usually by compressive stress, resulting in particular textures.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

shear

  1. Misspelling of sheer.

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English sheren, from Old English scieran, from Proto-Germanic *skeraną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‎(“to cut”). Cognate with West Frisian skeare, Low German scheren, Dutch scheren, German scheren, Danish skære, Norwegian skjære, Swedish skära, Serbo-Croatian škare ("scissors"); and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek κείρω ‎(keírō, “I cut off”), Latin caro ‎(“flesh”), Albanian harr ‎(“to cut, to mow”), Lithuanian skìrti ‎(“separate”), Welsh ysgar ‎(“separate”). See also sharp.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ʃɪə(ɹ)/
  • Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
  • (US) IPA(key): /ʃiɹ/
  • Rhymes: -iɹ
  • (near-square merger) IPA(key): /ʃɛə/
  • Rhymes: -ɛː(ɹ)
  • Homophone: sheer

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