Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Tear

Tear

(tēr)
,
Noun.
[AS.
teár
; akin to G.
zärhe
, OHG.
zahar
, OFries. & Icel.
tār
, Sw.
tår
, Dan.
taare
, Goth.
tagr
, OIr.
dēr
, W.
dagr
, OW.
dacr
, L.
lacrima
,
lacruma
, for older
dacruma
, Gr.
δάκρυ
,
δάκρυον
,
δάκρυμα
. √59. Cf.
Lachrymose
.]
1.
(Physiol.)
A drop of the limpid, saline fluid secreted, normally in small amount, by the lachrymal gland, and diffused between the eye and the eyelids to moisten the parts and facilitate their motion. Ordinarily the secretion passes through the lachrymal duct into the nose, but when it is increased by emotion or other causes, it overflows the lids.
And yet for thee ne wept she never a
tear
.
Chaucer.
2.
Something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins.
Let Araby extol her happy coast,
Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious
tears
.
Dryden.
3.
That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge.
[R.]
“Some melodous tear.”
Milton.
☞ Tear is sometimes used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, tear-distilling, tear-drop, tear-filled, tear-stained, and the like.

Tear

(târ)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp.
Tore
(tōr)
, ((
Obs.
Tare
)
(târ)
;
p. p.
Torn
(tōrn)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Tearing
.]
[OE.
teren
, AS.
teran
; akin to OS. far
terian
to destroy, D.
teren
to consume, G.
zerren
to pull, to tear,
zehren
to consume, Icel.
t>ae/ra
, Goth.
gataíran
to destroy, Lith.
dirti
to flay, Russ.
drate
to pull, to tear, Gr.
δέρειν
to flay, Skr.
dar
to burst. √63. Cf.
Darn
,
Epidermis
,
Tarre
,
Tirade
.]
1.
To separate by violence; to pull apart by force; to rend; to lacerate;
as, to
tear
cloth; to
tear
a garment; to
tear
the skin or flesh.
Tear
him to pieces; he’s a conspirator.
Shakespeare
2.
Hence, to divide by violent measures; to disrupt; to rend;
as, a party or government
torn
by factions
.
3.
To rend away; to force away; to remove by force; to sunder;
as, a child
torn
from its home
.
The hand of fate
Hath
torn
thee from me.
Addison.
4.
To pull with violence;
as, to
tear
the hair
.
5.
To move violently; to agitate.
“Once I loved torn ocean's roar.”
Byron.
To tear a cat
,
to rant violently; to rave; – especially applied to theatrical ranting.
[Obs.]
Shak.
–
To tear down
,
to demolish violently; to pull or pluck down.
–
To tear off
,
to pull off by violence; to strip.
–
To tear out
,
to pull or draw out by violence;
as,
to tear out
the eyes
.
–
To tear up
,
to rip up; to remove from a fixed state by violence;
as,
to tear up
a floor;
to tear up
the foundation of government or order
.

Tear

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To divide or separate on being pulled; to be rent;
as, this cloth
tears
easily
.
2.
To move and act with turbulent violence; to rush with violence; hence, to rage; to rave.

Tear

,
Noun.
The act of tearing, or the state of being torn; a rent; a fissure.
Macaulay.
Wear and tear
.
See under
Wear
,
Noun.

Webster 1828 Edition

Tear

TEAR

, n.
1.
Tears are the limpid fluid secreted by the lacrymal gland, and appearing in the eyes, or flowing from them. A tear, in the singular, is a drop or a small quantity of that fluid. Tears are excited by passions, particularly by grief. This fluid is also called forth by any injury done to the eye. It serves to moisten the cornea and preserve its transparency, and to remove any dust or fine substance that enters the eye and gives pain.
2.
Something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter.

TEAR

,
Verb.
T.
[L. tero.]
1.
To separate by violence or pulling; to rend; to lacerate; as, to tear cloth; to tear a garment, to tear the skin or flesh. We use tear and rip in different senses. To tear is to rend or separate the texture of cloth; to rip is to open a seam, to separate parts sewed together.
2.
To wound; to lacerate.
The women beat their breasts, their cheeks they tear.
3.
To rend; to break; to form fissures by any violence; as, torrents tear the ground.
4.
To divide by violent measures; to shatter; to rend; as a state or government torn by factions.
5.
To pull with violence; as, to tear the hair.
6.
To remove by violence; to break up.
Or on rough seas from their foundation torn.
7.
To make a violent rent.
In the midst, a tearing groan did break
The name of Antony.
To tear from, to separate and take away by force; as an isle torn from its possessor.
The hand of fate
Has torn thee from me.
To tear off, to pull off by violence; to strip.
To tear out, to pull or draw out by violence; as, to tear out the eyes.
To tear up, to rip up; to remove from a fixed state by violence; as, to tear up a floor; to tear up the foundations of government or order.

TEAR

,
Verb.
I.
To rave; to rage; to rant; to move and act with turbulent violence; as a mad bull.

TEAR

,
Noun.
A rent; a fissure. [Little used.]

Definition 2024

tear

tear

English

Pronunciation

Verb

tear ‎(third-person singular simple present tears, present participle tearing, simple past tore, past participle torn)

  1. (transitive) To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.
    • 1856: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter XI, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
      He suffered, poor man, at seeing her so badly dressed, with laceless boots, and the arm-holes of her pinafore torn down to the hips; for the charwoman took no care of her.
    He tore his coat on the nail.‎
  2. (transitive) To injure as if by pulling apart.
    He has a torn ligament.‎
    He tore some muscles in a weight-lifting accident.‎
  3. (transitive) To cause to lose some kind of unity or coherence.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.
    He was torn by conflicting emotions.‎
  4. (transitive) To make (an opening) with force or energy.
    A piece of debris tore a tiny straight channel through the satellite.‎
    His boss will tear him a new one when he finds out.‎
    The artillery tore a gap in the line.‎
  5. (transitive, often with off or out) To remove by tearing.
    Tear the coupon out of the newspaper.‎
  6. (transitive, of structures, with down) To demolish
    The slums were torn down to make way for the new development.‎
  7. (intransitive) To become torn, especially accidentally.
    My dress has torn.‎
  8. (intransitive) To move or act with great speed, energy, or violence.
    He went tearing down the hill at 90 miles per hour.‎
    The tornado lingered, tearing through town, leaving nothing upright.‎
    He tore into the backlog of complaints.‎
  9. (intransitive) To smash or enter something with great force.
    The chain shot tore into the approaching line of infantry.‎
Synonyms
  • (break): rend, rip
  • (remove by tearing): rip out, tear off, tear out
Related terms
Translations

Noun

tear ‎(plural tears)

  1. A hole or break caused by tearing.
    A small tear is easy to mend, if it is on the seam.
  2. (slang) A rampage.
    to go on a tear
Derived terms
Translations

Derived terms

Etymology 2

A girl producing tears

From Middle English teer, ter, tere, tear, from Old English tēar, tǣr, tæhher, teagor, *teahor ‎(“drop; tear; what is distilled from anything in drops, nectar”), from Proto-Germanic *tahrą ‎(“tear”), from Proto-Indo-European *dáḱru- ‎(“tears”). Cognates include Old Norse tár (Danish tåre and Norwegian tåre), Old High German zahar (German Zähre), and Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐍂 ‎(tagr).

Pronunciation

Noun

tear ‎(plural tears)

  1. A drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the eyes by crying or irritation.
    There were big tears rolling down Lisa's cheeks.‎
    Ryan wiped the tear from the paper he was crying on.‎
  2. Something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins.
    • Dryden:
      Let Araby extol her happy coast, / Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious tears.
  3. (glass manufacture) A partially vitrified bit of clay in glass.
  4. That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge.
    • Milton:
      some melodious tear
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

tear ‎(third-person singular simple present tears, present participle tearing, simple past and past participle teared)

  1. (intransitive) To produce tears.
    Her eyes began to tear in the harsh wind.
Translations

Anagrams

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *tahrą. Germanic cognates include Old Frisian tār, Old High German zahar (German Zähre, originally plural), Old Norse tár (Swedish tår).

Noun

tēar m

  1. tear (drop of liquid from the tear duct)

Descendants

Portuguese

Etymology

From teia +‎ -ar

Pronunciation

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /te.ˈaʁ/

Noun

tear m (plural teares)

  1. loom (machine used to make cloth out of thread)

West Frisian

Noun

tear

  1. tar

Etymology

From Middle English teren, from Old English teran ‎(“to tear, lacerate”), from Proto-Germanic *teraną ‎(“to tear, tear apart, rip”), from Proto-Indo-European *der- ‎(“to tear, tear apart”). Cognate with Scots tere, teir, tair ‎(“to rend, lacerate, wound, rip, tear out”), Dutch teren ‎(“to eliminate, efface, live, survive by consumption”), German zehren ‎(“to consume, misuse”), German zerren ‎(“to tug, rip, tear”), Danish tære ‎(“to consume”), Swedish tära ‎(“to fret, consume, deplete, use up”), Icelandic tæra ‎(“to clear, corrode”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Ancient Greek δέρω ‎(dérō, “to skin”), Albanian ther ‎(“to slay, skin, pierce”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tæːaɹ/

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