Dictionary
Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Translator
Web

shear stress

 - 5 dictionary results

shear stress

–noun Physics.
the external force acting on an object or surface parallel to the slope or plane in which it lies; the stress tending to produce shear.
Also, shearing stress.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To shear stress
shear   (shîr)   


(click for larger image in new window)
v.   sheared, sheared or shorn (shôrn, shōrn), shear·ing, shears

v.   tr.
  1. To remove (fleece or hair) by cutting or clipping.

  2. To remove the hair or fleece from.

  3. To cut with or as if with shears: shearing a hedge.

  4. To divest or deprive as if by cutting: The prisoners were shorn of their dignity.

v.   intr.
  1. To use a cutting tool such as shears.

  2. To move or proceed by or as if by cutting: shear through the wheat.

  3. Physics To become deformed by forces tending to produce a shearing strain.

n.  
    1. A pair of scissors. Often used in the plural.

    2. Any of various implements or machines that cut with a scissorlike action. Often used in the plural.

    3. An applied force or system of forces that tends to produce a shearing strain. Also called shearing stress, shear stress.

    4. A shearing strain.

  1. The act, process, or result of shearing.

  2. Something cut off by shearing.

  3. The act, process, or fact of shearing. Used to indicate a sheep's age: a two-shear ram.

  4. also sheers (shîrz) (used with a sing. or pl. verb) An apparatus used to lift heavy weights, consisting of two or more spars joined at the top and spread at the base, the tackle being suspended from the top.

  5. Physics

    1. An applied force or system of forces that tends to produce a shearing strain. Also called shearing stress, shear stress.

    2. A shearing strain.


[Middle English scheren, from Old English sceran; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots. N., from Middle English shere, from Old English scēar; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots.]
shear'er n.
shear stress  
n.  See shear.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Science Dictionary
shear stress  
A form of stress that subjects an object to which force is applied to skew, tending to cause shear strain. For example, shear stress on a block of wood would arise by fixing one end and applying force to this other; this would tend to change the block's shape from a rectangle to a parallelogram. See also strain.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Encyclopedia

shear stress

force tending to cause deformation of a material by slippage along a plane or planes parallel to the imposed stress. The resultant shear is of great importance in nature, being intimately related to the downslope movement of earth materials and to earthquakes. Shear stress may occur in solids or liquids; in the latter it is related to fluid viscosity.

Learn more about shear stress with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Cite This Source
Search another word or see shear stress on Thesaurus | Reference
FacebookTwitterFollow us: