Shear Definition

shîr
sheared, shearing, shears, shorn
verb
sheared, shearing, shears, shorn
To come apart or break under the action of shearing stress.
Webster's New World
To tear or wrench (off) by shearing stress.
Webster's New World
To cut with shears or a similar sharp-edged instrument.
Webster's New World
To move by or as if by cutting.
Webster's New World
To remove (the hair, wool, etc.) by cutting or clipping.
Webster's New World
noun
shears
A machine used in cutting metal, esp. sheet metal.
Webster's New World
The action, process, or result of shearing; specif., the shearing of wool from an animal.
A sheep of three shears.
Webster's New World
Something cut off by shearing.
American Heritage
An apparatus used to lift heavy weights, consisting of two or more spars joined at the top and spread at the base, the tackle being suspended from the top.
American Heritage
Webster's New World
adjective

Common misspelling of sheer.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Shear

Noun

Singular:
shear
Plural:
shears

Origin of Shear

  • From Middle English sheren, from Old English scieran, from Proto-Germanic *skeranÄ…, 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; and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek κείρω (keirō, “I cut off"), Latin caro (“flesh"), Albanian harr (“to cut, to mow"), Lithuanian skìrti (“separate"), Welsh ysgar (“separate"). See also sharp.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English scheren from Old English sceran sker-1 in Indo-European roots N., from Middle English shere from Old English scēar sker-1 in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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