shear

[sheer] /ʃɪər/
verb (used with object), sheared, sheared or shorn, shearing.
1.
to cut (something).
2.
to remove by or as if by cutting or clipping with a sharp instrument:
to shear wool from sheep.
3.
to cut or clip the hair, fleece, wool, etc., from:
to shear sheep.
4.
to strip or deprive (usually followed by of):
to shear someone of power.
5.
Chiefly Scot. to reap with a sickle.
6.
to travel through by or as if by cutting:
Chimney swifts sheared the air.
verb (used without object), sheared, sheared or shorn, shearing.
7.
to cut or cut through something with a sharp instrument.
8.
to progress by or as if by cutting:
The cruiser sheared through the water.
9.
Mechanics, Geology. to become fractured along a plane as a result of forces acting parallel to the plane.
10.
Chiefly Scot. to reap crops with a sickle.
noun
11.
Usually, shears. (sometimes used with a singular verb)
  1. scissors of large size (usually used with pair of).
  2. any of various other cutting implements or machines having two blades that resemble or suggest those of scissors.
12.
the act or process of shearing or being sheared.
13.
a shearing of sheep (used in stating the age of sheep):
a sheep of one shear.
14.
the quantity, especially of wool or fleece, cut off at one shearing.
15.
one blade of a pair of large scissors.
16.
Usually, shears. (usually used with a plural verb). Also, sheers. Also called shear legs, sheerlegs. a framework for hoisting heavy weights, consisting of two or more spars with their legs separated, fastened together near the top and steadied by guys, which support a tackle.
17.
a machine for cutting rigid material, as metal in sheet or plate form, by moving the edge of a blade through it.
18.
Mechanics, Geology. the tendency of forces to deform or fracture a member or a rock in a direction parallel to the force, as by sliding one section against another.
19.
Physics. the lateral deformation produced in a body by an external force, expressed as the ratio of the lateral displacement between two points lying in parallel planes to the vertical distance between the planes.
Origin
before 900; (v.) Middle English sheren, Old English sceran, cognate with Dutch, German scheren, Old Norse skera; (noun) (in sense “tool for shearing”) Middle English sheres (plural), continuing Old English scērero, scēar, two words derived from the same root as the v.
Related forms
shearer, noun
shearless, adjective
Can be confused
shear, sheer.
Examples from the web for shears
  • On both occasions, the official wielding the shears at the ribbon-cutting bloodies his thumb.
  • Use gardening shears and manual lawn edgers instead of powered weed trimmers.
  • Louis wielded a mean set of shears, excelling in the arts of pruning and grafting.
  • It was for being lazy, she explained, and showed me the shears.
  • Her methods work on any kind of evergreen at any size that you can reach with shears.
  • It is evident that the censors have used their shears on this film.
  • The coiffure of the dusky individuals receives attention by means of shears.
  • Trim excess chocolate from seam with kitchen shears and trim open ends with a knife.
  • Simply cut away the membrane on the underside of the tail with kitchen shears.
  • The coolest new accessories for the style savvy may be a pincushion and a pair of pinking shears.
British Dictionary definitions for shears

shears

/ʃɪəz/
plural noun
1.
  1. large scissors, as for cutting cloth, jointing poultry, etc
  2. a large scissor-like and usually hand-held cutting tool with flat blades, as for cutting hedges
2.
any of various analogous cutting or clipping implements or machines
3.
short for sheerlegs
4.
(Austral, informal) off the shears, (of a sheep) newly shorn

shear

/ʃɪə/
verb shears, shearing, sheared (Austral & NZ) shore, sheared, shorn
1.
(transitive) to remove (the fleece or hair) of (sheep, etc) by cutting or clipping
2.
to cut or cut through (something) with shears or a sharp instrument
3.
(engineering) to cause (a part, member, shaft, etc) to deform or fracture or (of a part, etc) to deform or fracture as a result of excess torsion or transverse load
4.
(transitive) often foll by of. to strip or divest: to shear someone of his power
5.
when intr, foll by through. to move through (something) by or as if by cutting
6.
(Scot) to reap (corn, etc) with a scythe or sickle
noun
7.
the act, process, or an instance of shearing
8.
a shearing of a sheep or flock of sheep, esp when referred to as an indication of age: a sheep of two shears
9.
a form of deformation or fracture in which parallel planes in a body or assembly slide over one another
10.
(physics) the deformation of a body, part, etc, expressed as the lateral displacement between two points in parallel planes divided by the distance between the planes
11.
either one of the blades of a pair of shears, scissors, etc
12.
a machine that cuts sheet material by passing a knife blade through it
13.
a device for lifting heavy loads consisting of a tackle supported by a framework held steady by guy ropes
See also shears, shore3
Derived Forms
shearer, noun
Word Origin
Old English sceran; related to Old Norse skera to cut, Old Saxon, Old High German skeran to shear; see share²
Word Origin and History for shears
n.

"large scissors," Old English scearra (plural) "shears, scissors," from Proto-Germanic *sker- "to cut" (cf. Middle Dutch schaer, Old High German scara, German Schere; see shear (v.)). In 17c., also "a device for raising the masts of ships" (1620s). As "scissors," OED labels it Scottish and dialectal. Chalk is no shears (1640s) was noted as a Scottish proverb expressing the gap between planning and doing.

shear

v.

Old English sceran, scieran (class IV strong verb; past tense scear, past participle scoren) "to cleave, hew, cut with a sharp instrument; cut (hair); shear (sheep)," from Proto-Germanic *sker- "to cut" (cf. Old Norse and Old Frisian skera, Dutch scheren, German scheren "to shear"), from PIE *(s)ker- (1) "to cut, to scrape, to hack" (cf. Sanskrit krnati "hurts, wounds, kills," krntati "cuts;" Hittite karsh- "to cut off;" Greek keirein "to cut, shear;" Latin curtus "short;" Lithuanian skiriu "to separate;" Old Irish scaraim "I separate;" Welsh ysgar "to separate," ysgyr "fragment").

n.

"act of clipping," 1610s, also as a unit of measure of the age of a sheep, from shear (v.). Scientific and mechanical sense "type of strain" is from 1850.

shears in Science
shear
(shîr)

  1. A force, movement or pressure applied to an object perpendicular to a given axis, with greater value on one side of the axis than the other. See more at shear force, stress, strain.

  2. See skew.