sheer 1
— sheerly , adv. — sheerness , n.
/shear/ , adj., sheerer, sheerest , adv. , n.
adj.
1. transparently thin; diaphanous, as some fabrics: sheer stockings.
2. unmixed with anything else: We drilled a hundred feet through sheer rock.
3. unqualified; utter: sheer nonsense.
4. extending down or up very steeply; almost completely vertical: a sheer descent of rock.
5. Brit. Obs. bright; shining.
adv.
6. clear; completely; quite: ran sheer into the thick of battle.
7. perpendicularly; vertically; down or up very steeply.
n.
8. a thin, diaphanous material, as chiffon or voile.
[ 1175-1225; ME scere, shere, schere free, clear, bright, thin; prob. skaerr; change of sk- > s ( c ) h- perh. by influence of the related OE scir (E dial. shire clear, pure, thin); c. G schier, ON skir, Goth skeirs clear; see SHINE ]
Syn. 2. mere, simple, pure, unadulterated. 3. absolute, downright. 4. abrupt, precipitous. 6. totally, entirely.
Ant. 1. opaque.
sheer 2
/shear/ , v.i.
1. to deviate from a course, as a ship; swerve.
v.t.
2. to cause to sheer.
3. Shipbuilding. to give sheer to (a hull).
n.
4. a deviation or divergence, as of a ship from its course; swerve.
5. Shipbuilding. the fore-and-aft upward curve of the hull of a vessel at the main deck or bulwarks.
6. Naut. the position in which a ship at anchor is placed to keep it clear of the anchor.
[ 1620-30; special use of SHEER 1 ; cf. sense development of CLEAR ]