tangential stress

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}. [1913 Webster]

On his head came razor none, nor shear. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

Short of the wool, and naked from the shear. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

2. A shearing; -- used in designating the age of sheep. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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}. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

{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. [1913 Webster]