Nearby Words
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shears

[sheer] Origin

shear

[sheer] verb, sheared, sheared or shorn, shear·ing, noun
verb (used with object)
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 followed by of): to shear someone of power.
5.
Chiefly Scot. to reap with a sickle.
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6.
to travel through by or as if by cutting: Chimney swifts sheared the air.
COLLAPSE
verb (used without object)
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.
Mechanics, Geology. 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.

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Shears is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
noun
11.
Usually, shears. (sometimes used with a singular verb)
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, especially of wool or fleece, cut off at one shearing.
15.
one blade of a pair of large scissors.
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16.
Usually, shears. (usually used with a plural verb) 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.
Mechanics, Geology. 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.
COLLAPSE

Origin:
before 900; (v.) Middle English sheren, Old English sceran, cognate with Dutch, German scheren, Old Norse skera; (noun) (in sense “tool for shearing”) Middle English sheres (plural), continuing Old English scērero, scēar, two words derived from the same root as the v.

shear·er, noun
shear·less, adjective

shear, sheer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
shears (ʃɪəz)
 
pl n
1.  a.  large scissors, as for cutting cloth, jointing poultry, etc
 b.  a large scissor-like and usually hand-held cutting tool with flat blades, as for cutting hedges
2.  any of various analogous cutting or clipping implements or machines
3.  short for sheerlegs
4.  informal (Austral) off the shears (of a sheep) newly shorn

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

shear
O.E. sceran, scieran (class IV strong verb; past tense scear, pp. scoren), from P.Gmc. *sker- "to cut" (cf. O.N., O.Fris. skera, Du. scheren, Ger. scheren "to shear"), from PIE *(s)ker- "to cut, to scrape, to hack" (cf. Skt. krnati "hurts, wounds, kills," krntati "cuts;" Hittite karsh- "to cut off;"
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Gk. keirein "to cut, shear;" Lith. skiriu "to separate;" O.Ir. scaraim "I separate;" Welsh ysgar "to separate," ysgyr "fragment").

shears
"large scissors," O.E. sceara (pl.), from P.Gmc. *skær-; see shear. In 17c., also "a device for raising the masts of ships" (1625).
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
shear   (shîr)  Pronunciation Key 
  1. A force, movement or pressure applied to an object perpendicular to a given axis, with greater value on one side of the axis than the other. See more at shear force, stress, strain.

  2. See skew.


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