shear Definition
shear (s̸hir)
transitive verb sheared, sheared or shorn, shear′·ing
- to cut with shears or a similar sharp-edged instrument
- to remove (the hair, wool, etc.) by cutting or clipping
- to cut or clip the hair, wool, etc. from
- to tear or wrench (off) by shearing stress
- to move through as if cutting
- to strip or divest (someone) of a power, right, etc.
- Dialectal to reap with a sickle
Etymology: ME scheren < OE scieran, akin to Ger scheren < IE base *(s)ker-, to cut > harvest
intransitive verb
- to use a cutting tool, as shears, in trimming or cutting wool, shrubbery, metal, etc.
- Dialectal to use a sickle in reaping
- to come apart or break under the action of shearing stress
- to move by or as if by cutting
noun
- Rare shears
- a single blade of a pair of shears
- a machine used in cutting metal, esp. sheet metal
- the action, process, or result of shearing; specif., the shearing of wool from an animal: used in designating a sheep's age a sheep of three shears
- shearing stress
- any strain or distortion in shape resulting from the action of shearing stress
Etymology: ME schere < OE scear
shear Related Forms
shear′er noun
shear Synonyms
shear Usage Examples
Object
- sheep: You can milk or shear the once pregnant sheep or cow the day it was supposed to be born.
- bolt: No threads were stripped, no knuckles bloodied, no bolts sheared.
- lamb: But God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.
- wool: No, you yourself are the hairdresser, since you only shear wool and take little care for your flock.
Converse of object
- prune: Now is the time to take the same pruning shears to the agenda.
- pink: Use this template to cut out the required number of net circles, using pinking shears for a decorative finish if you like.
Adjective modifier
- right-lateral: This must cause the same amount of right-lateral shear in eastern Iran.
- oscillatory: It is therefore natural to study the macroscopic parameters of the fluids under different conditions, such as steady and oscillatory shear.
- vertical: Relative importance of lateral and vertical shear on Rutford Ice Stream, Antarctica.
- magnetic: The effects of oblique propagation and a magnetic field shear are taken into account.
Modifies a noun
- modulus: In reality the values of shear modulus G are much lower.
- viscosity: Predicting the shear viscosity of heavily filled materials can thus also be complex.
- stress: The maximum shear stress is given by the radius of the largest circle.
- stiffness: Example calculations are included together with graphs showing the effect of lay-up on the shear stiffnesses.
- deformation: Here, after demonstrating that shear deformation alone makes little qualitative difference, the case of initial curvature is examined in some detail.
- strength: Greater shear strength due to larger tooth cross section.
Noun used with modifier
- masonry: The vertical reinforcement of the masonry shear wall should be anchored into the floor to ensure loads transfer.
- poultry: To butterfly chicken, use poultry shears or a sharp knife to split the bird lengthways along one side of the backbone.
- velocity: Using these analytical solutions, the effect of the velocity shear on the damping rate of the surface wave can easily be investigated.
Present participle complement
thin: Under simple shear, typically, the same polymer solutions are strongly shear thinning.
Browse dictionary entries near shear
- sheared ›
- shearing ›
- shearing stress ›
- shearling ›
- shears ›
- shearwater ›
- sheatfish ›
- sheath ›
- sheath knife ›
- sheathbill ›

