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sheer - 10 dictionary results
sheer
1
[sheer] 
adjective, -er, -est, adverb, noun –adjective
| 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. | British Obsolete. bright; shining. |
–adverb
| 6. | clear; completely; quite: ran sheer into the thick of battle. |
| 7. | perpendicularly; vertically; down or up very steeply. |
–noun
| 8. | a thin, diaphanous material, as chiffon or voile. |
Origin:
1175–1225; ME scere, shere, schere free, clear, bright, thin; prob. < ON skǣrr; change of sk- > s(c)h- perh. by influence of the related OE scīr (E dial. shire clear, pure, thin); c. G schier, ON skīr, Goth skeirs clear; see shine
1175–1225; ME scere, shere, schere free, clear, bright, thin; prob. < ON skǣrr; change of sk- > s(c)h- perh. by influence of the related OE scīr (E dial. shire clear, pure, thin); c. G schier, ON skīr, Goth skeirs clear; see shine
Related forms:
sheerly, adverb
sheerness, noun
Synonyms:
2. mere, simple, pure, unadulterated. 3. absolute, downright. 4. abrupt, precipitous. 6. totally, entirely.
2. mere, simple, pure, unadulterated. 3. absolute, downright. 4. abrupt, precipitous. 6. totally, entirely.
Antonyms:
1. opaque.
1. opaque.
sheer
2 [sheer] –verb (used without object)
| 1. | to deviate from a course, as a ship; swerve. |
–verb (used with object)
| 2. | to cause to sheer. |
| 3. | Shipbuilding. to give sheer to (a hull). |
–noun
| 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. | Nautical. the position in which a ship at anchor is placed to keep it clear of the anchor. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To sheer
| sheer 1 (shîr) intr. & tr.v. sheered, sheer·ing, sheers To swerve or cause to swerve from a course. n.
[Probably partly from Low German scheren, to move to and fro (said of boats), and partly from Dutch scheren, to withdraw; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots.] |
| sheer 2 (shîr) adj. sheer·er, sheer·est
[Obsolete shere, thin, clear, partly from Middle English shir, bright, clear (from Old English scīr) and partly from Middle English skir, bright, clean (from Old Norse skærr).] sheer'ly adv., sheer'ness n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Sheer
Sheer\, a. [OE. shere, skere, pure, bright, Icel. sk?rr; akin to sk[=i]rr, AS. sc[=i]r, OS. sk[=i]ri, MHG. sch[=i]r, G. schier, Dan. sk?r, Sw. sk["a]r, Goth. skeirs clear, and E. shine. [root]157. See Shine, v. i.]1. Bright; clear; pure; unmixed. "Sheer ale." --Shak. Thou sheer, immaculate, and silver fountain. --Shak. 2. Very thin or transparent; -- applied to fabrics; as, sheer muslin. 3. Being only what it seems to be; obvious; simple; mere; downright; as, sheer folly; sheer nonsense. "A sheer impossibility." --De Quincey. It is not a sheer advantage to have several strings to one's bow. --M. Arnold. 4. Stright up and down; vertical; prpendicular. A sheer precipice of a thousand feet. --J. D. Hooker. It was at least Nine roods of sheer ascent. --Wordsworth.Sheer
Sheer\, adv. Clean; quite; at once. [Obs.] --Milton.Sheer
Sheer\, v. t. [See Shear.] To shear. [Obs.] --Dryden.Sheer
Sheer\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sheered; p. pr. & vb. n. Sheering.] [D. sheren to shear, cut, withdraw, warp. See Shear.] To decline or deviate from the line of the proper course; to turn aside; to swerve; as, a ship sheers from her course; a horse sheers at a bicycle. To sheer off, to turn or move aside to a distance; to move away. To sheer up, to approach obliquely.Sheer
Sheer\, n. 1. (Naut.) (a) The longitudinal upward curvature of the deck, gunwale, and lines of a vessel, as when viewed from the side. (b) The position of a vessel riding at single anchor and swinging clear of it. 2. A turn or change in a course. Give the canoe a sheer and get nearer to the shore. --Cooper. 3. pl. Shears See Shear. Sheer batten (Shipbuilding), a long strip of wood to guide the carpenters in following the sheer plan. Sheer boom, a boom slanting across a stream to direct floating logs to one side. Sheer hulk. See Shear hulk, under Hulk. Sheer plan, or Sheer draught (Shipbuilding), a projection of the lines of a vessel on a vertical longitudinal plane passing through the middle line of the vessel. Sheer pole (Naut.), an iron rod lashed to the shrouds just above the dead-eyes and parallel to the ratlines. Sheer strake (Shipbuilding), the strake under the gunwale on the top side. --Totten. To break sheer (Naut.), to deviate from sheer, and risk fouling the anchor.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : sheer
Spanish:
puro, absoluto,
German:
rein,
Japanese:
全くの
sheer
c.1205, "exempt, free from guilt," later schiere "thin, sparse" (c.1400), from O.E. scir "bright, clear," influenced by O.N. cognate scær "bright, clean, pure," from P.Gmc. *skairijaz (cf. O.S. skiri, O.Fris. skire, Ger. schier, Goth. skeirs "clean, pure"), perhaps from PIE base *skai- "to shine" (see shine). Sense of "absolute, utter" (sheer nonsense) developed 1583; that of "very steep" (sheer cliff) is first recorded 1800.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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