Shear

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Shear, v. t. [OE. sheren, scheren, to shear, cut, shave, AS. sceran, scieran, scyran; akin to D. & G. scheren, Icel. skera, Dan. skire, Gr. . Cf. Jeer, Score, Shard, Share, Sheer to turn aside.].

•  To cut, clip, or sever anything from with shears or a like instrument; as, to shear sheep; to shear cloth.  [1913 Webster]

  " It is especially applied to the cutting of wool from sheep or their skins, and the nap from cloth."  [1913 Webster]
•  To separate or sever with shears or a similar instrument; to cut off; to clip (something) from a surface; as, to shear a fleece.  [1913 Webster]

  "Before the golden tresses . . . were shorn away."  [1913 Webster]
•  To reap, as grain.  Jamieson.  [1913 Webster]
•  Fig.: To deprive of property; to fleece.  [1913 Webster]
•  To produce a change of shape in by a shear. See Shear, n., 4.  [1913 Webster]

Shear, n. [AS. sceara. See Shear, v. t.].

•  A pair of shears; -- now always used in the plural, but formerly also in the singular. See Shears.  [1913 Webster]

  "On his head came razor none, nor shear."  [1913 Webster]

  "Short of the wool, and naked from the shear."  [1913 Webster]
•  A shearing; -- used in designating the age of sheep.  [1913 Webster]

  "After the second shearing, he is a two-shear ram; . . . at the expiration of another year, he is a three-shear ram; the name always taking its date from the time of shearing."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

Shear blade, one of the blades of shears or a shearing machine. -- Shear hulk. See under Hulk. -- Shear steel, a steel suitable for shears, scythes, and other cutting instruments, prepared from fagots of blistered steel by repeated heating, rolling, and tilting, to increase its malleability and fineness of texture.

Shear, v. i. 

•  To deviate. See Sheer.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Shear, v. & n.
--v. (past sheared, archaic except Austral. & NZ shore; past part. shorn or sheared)
1 tr. cut with scissors or shears etc.
2 tr. remove or take off by cutting.
3 tr. clip the wool off (a sheep etc.).
4 tr. (foll. by of) a strip bare. b deprive.
5 tr. & intr. (often foll. by off) distort or be distorted, or break, from a structural strain.
--n.
1 Mech. & Geol. a strain produced by pressure in the structure of a substance, when its layers are laterally shifted in relation to each other.
2 (in pl.) (also pair of shears sing.) a large clipping or cutting instrument shaped like scissors for use in gardens etc.

Derivative

shearer n.

Etymology

OE sceran f. Gmc

THESAURUS

Shear

abbreviate, abridge, abscind, abstract, amputate, annihilate, ban, bar, barb, barber, bare, bleed, bleed white, bob, boil down, capsulize, clip, compress, condense, contract, crop, cull, curtail, cut, cut away, cut back, cut down, cut off, cut off short, cut out, cut short, denudate, denude, deplume, despoil, displume, divest, dock, drain, dry, elide, eliminate, enucleate, epitomize, eradicate, except, excise, exclude, exhaust, expose, extinguish, extirpate, flay, fleece, foreshorten, impoverish, isolate, knock off, lay bare, lay open, lop, manicure, milk, mow, mutilate, nip, pare, peel, pick clean, pick out, pluck, poll, pollard, prune, reap, recap, recapitulate, reduce, remove, retrench, root out, rule out, set apart, set aside, shave, shorten, skin, skive, snip, snub, stamp out, strike off, strip, strip bare, strip off, stunt, suck dry, sum up, summarize, synopsize, take in, take off, take out, telescope, trim, truncate, uncloak, uncover, unsheathe, unveil, wipe out

ROGET THESAURUS

Shear

Taking

VB take, catch, hook, nab, bag, sack, pocket, put into one's pocket, receive, accept, reap, crop, cull, pluck, gather, draw, appropriate, expropriate, impropriate, assume, possess oneself of, take possession of, commandeer, lay one's hands on, clap one's hands on, help oneself to, make free with, dip one's hands into, lay under contribution, intercept, scramble for, deprive of, take away, carry away, bear away, take off, carry off, bear off, adeem, abstract, hurry off with, run away with, abduct, steal, ravish, seize, pounce upon, spring upon, swoop to, swoop down upon, take by storm, take by assault, snatch, reave, snap up, nip up, whip up, catch up, kidnap, crimp, capture, lay violent hands on, get hold of, lay hold of, take hold of, catch hold of, lay fast hold of, take firm hold of, lay by the heels, take prisoner, fasten upon, grip, grapple, embrace, gripe, clasp, grab, clutch, collar, throttle, take by the throat, claw, clinch, clench, make sure of, catch at, jump at, make a grab at, snap at, snatch at, reach, make a long arm, stretch forth one's hand, take from, take away from, disseize, deduct, retrench, dispossess, ease one of, snatch from one's grasp, tear from, tear away from, wrench from, wrest from, wring from, extort, deprive of, bereave, disinherit, cut off with a shilling, oust, divest, levy, distrain, confiscate, sequester, sequestrate, accroach, usurp, despoil, strip, fleece, shear, displume, impoverish, eat out of house and home, drain, drain to the dregs, gut, dry, exhaust, swallow up, absorb, draw off, suck the blood of, suck like a leech, retake, resume, recover.

Contraction

VB become small, become smaller, lessen, decrease, grow less, dwindle, shrink, contract, narrow, shrivel, collapse, wither, lose flesh, wizen, fall away, waste, wane, ebb, decay, be smaller than, fall short of, not come up to, render smaller, lessen, diminish, contract, draw in, narrow, coarctate, boil down, constrict, constringe, condense, compress, squeeze, corrugate, crimp, crunch, crush, crumple up, warp, purse up, pack, squeeze, stow, pinch, tighten, strangle, cramp, dwarf, bedwarf, shorten, circumscribe, restrain, (subtraction) 38 abrade, pare, reduce, attenuate, rub down, scrape, file, file down, grind, grind down, chip, shave, shear, wear down.

Shortness

VB be short, render short, shorten, curtail, abridge, abbreviate, take in, reduce, compress, epitomize, retrench, cut short, obtruncate, scrimp, cut, chop up, hack, hew, cut down, pare down, clip, dock, lop, prune, shear, shave, mow, reap, crop, snub, truncate, pollard, stunt, nip, check the growth of, foreshorten (in drawing).