[shear] vb sheared ; sheared or shorn ; shear.ing [ME sheren, fr. OE scieran; akin to ON skera to cut, L curtus shortened, Gk keirein to cut, shear, Skt krnati he injures] vt (bef. 12c) 1 a: to cut off the hair from "with crown shorn" b: to cut or clip (as hair or wool) from someone or something; also: to cut something from "~ a lawn" c chiefly Scot: to reap with a sickle d: to cut or trim with shears or a similar instrument
2: to cut with something sharp
3: to deprive of something as if by cutting
4. a: to subject to a shear force b: to cause (as a rock mass) to move along the plane of contact ~ vi 1: to cut through something with or as if with a sharp instrument
2. chiefly Scot: to reap crops with a sickle
3: to become divided under the action of a shear "the bolt may ~ off" -- shear.er n
[2]shear n (bef. 12c) 1 a (1): a cutting implement similar or identical to a pair of scissors but typically larger--usu. used in pl. (2): one blade of a pair of shears b: any of various cutting tools or machines operating by the action of opposed cutting edges of metal--usu. used in pl. c (1): something resembling a shear or a pair of shears (2): a hoisting apparatus consisting of two or sometimes more upright spars fastened together at their upper ends and having tackle for masting or dismasting ships or lifting heavy loads (as guns)--usu. used in pl. but sing. or pl. in constr.
2. chiefly Brit: the action or process or an instance of shearing--used in combination to indicate the approximate age of sheep in terms of shearings undergone 3 a: internal force tangential to the section on which it acts--called also shearing force b: an action or stress resulting from applied forces that causes or tends to cause two contiguous parts of a body to slide relatively to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact