— shearer , n. — shearless , adj.
/shear/ , v. , sheared, sheared or shorn, shearing , n.
v.t.
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 fol. 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.
v.i.
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. Mech. , Geol. 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.
n.
11. Usually, shears . ( sometimes used with a sing. v. )
a. scissors of large size (usually used with pair of ).
b. 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, esp. 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 pl. v. ) 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. Mech. , Geol. 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.
[ bef. 900; (v.) ME sheren, OE sceran, c. D, G scheren, ON skera; (n.) (in sense "tool for shearing") ME sheres (pl.), continuing OE scerero, scear, two words derived from the same root as the v. ]