shear

  • 1Shear — 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… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2Shear — (sh[=e]r), v. 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?re, Gr. ???. Cf. {Jeer},… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 3shear — vb Shear, poll, clip, trim, prune, lop, snip, crop are comparable when they mean to cut off something (as a piece, an excrescence, or a limb). Shear is the most general word of this group; it usually implies the use of a sharp cutting instrument… …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 4shear´er — shear «shihr», verb, sheared or (Archaic) shore, sheared or shorn, shear|ing, noun. –v.t. 1. to cut with shears or scissors, especially in order to remove (wool or fleece): »to shear wool from sheep …

    Useful english dictionary

  • 5Shear — ist der Name folgender Personen: Rhonda Shear (* 1954), US amerikanische Schauspielerin und Moderatorin Tom Shear (* 1971), US amerikanischer Sänger und Musiker Diese Seite ist eine Begriffsklärung zur Unterscheidung mehrere …

    Deutsch Wikipedia

  • 6shear — [ʃıə US ʃır] v past tense sheared past participle sheared or shorn [ʃo:n US ʃo:rn] [T] [: Old English; Origin: scieran] 1.) to cut the wool off a sheep 2.) literary to cut off someone s hair ▪ Her long fair hair had been shorn …

    Dictionary of contemporary English

  • 7shear — (v.) O.E. sceran, scieran (class IV strong verb; past tense scear, pp. scoren), from P.Gmc. *sker to cut (Cf. O.N., O.Fris. skera, Du. scheren, Ger. scheren to shear ), from PIE * (s)ker to cut, to scrape, to hack (Cf. Skt. krnati hurts, wounds,… …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 8Shear — Shear, v. i. 1. To deviate. See {Sheer}. [1913 Webster] 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… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 9shear — shear, sheer Shear is a verb meaning ‘to remove by cutting’ or ‘to cut the wool off (a sheep)’, and has the past form sheared and the past participle shorn or (in the context of metal cutting) sheared. Sheer is an adjective describing a steep… …

    Modern English usage

  • 10shear — ► VERB (past part. shorn or sheared) 1) cut the wool off (a sheep or other animal). 2) cut off with scissors or shears. 3) (be shorn of) be deprived or stripped of. 4) break off or cause to break off, owing to a structural strain. ► …

    English terms dictionary