vt to reap, as grain.
2. shear ·vi to deviate. ·see sheer.
3. shear ·vt a shearing;
used in designating the age of sheep.
4. shear ·vt to produce a change of shape in by a shear. ·see shear, ·noun, 4.
5. shear ·vt fig.: to deprive of property; to fleece.
6. shear ·vt to cut, clip, or sever anything from with shears or a like instrument; as, to shear sheep; to shear cloth.
7. shear ·vt a pair of shears;
now always used in the plural, but formerly also in the singular. ·see shears.
8. shear ·vt to separate or sever with shears or a similar instrument; to cut off; to clip (something) from a surface; as, to shear a fleece.
9. shear ·vi 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 plane of contact.
10. shear ·vt 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.
11. shear ·vt 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.