shear

present singular third person shears · participle present shearing · past sheared · past shore · participle past shorn · participle past sheared

1. intransitivetransitiveTo remove the fleece from (a sheep, llama, etc.) by clipping.

   shear the llamas

   Synonyms: fleece

2. To cut the hair of (a person).

   shear the afro off someone's head

3. To cut, originally with a sword or other bladed weapon, now usually with shears, or as if using shears.

   the golden tresses […] were shorn away

   1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 68”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC

   1 more example

   So trenchant was the Templar’s weapon, that it shore asunder, as it had been a willow twig, the tough and plaited handle of the mace, which the ill-fated Saxon reared to parry the blow, and, descending on his head, levelled him with the earth.

   1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

4. natural sciencesTo deform because of forces pushing in opposite directions.
5. intransitiveaeronauticsTo change in direction or speed.

   The total along-the-runway wind component sheared from an 8-knot headwind to about a 56-knot tailwind over a 44-second period.

   1985 March 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “2.3 Airplane Takeoff Performance”, in Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 663, Boeing 727-222, N7647U, Denver, Colorado, May 31, 1984, page 41

6. mathematicsTo transform by displacing every point in a direction parallel to some given line by a distance proportional to the point’s distance from the line.
7. intransitivebusinessTo make a vertical cut in coal.
8. engineering(also 'shear off') To break or suddenly separate because of excessive force, eg. a bolt.
9. ScotlandTo reap, as grain.

   Soon as the bending Scythe, And Sickle keen, have shear'd the golden Grain, Array'd in all the Equipage of Death, Forth the stern Sportsman stalks

   1769, John Aldington, A Poem on the Cruelty of Shooting etc.

10. figurativelyTo deprive of property; to fleece.

plural shears

1. countableuncountableA cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger.

   short of their wool, and naked from the shear

   1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: shears

2. countableuncountableartsA large machine use for cutting sheet metal.
3. countableuncountableThe act of shearing, or something removed by shearing.

   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.

   1837, William Youatt, Sheep: Their Breeds, Management, and Diseases

4. countableuncountablenatural sciencesForces that push in opposite directions.
5. uncountableaeronauticsThe phenomenon of wind shear.

   1 more example

   The first effect of a wind shear was detected at 34 to 42 seconds into the takeoff, at a speed of about 115 KIAS with the airplane about 3,800 feet down the runway. An average shear rate of about 2.5 knots per second resulted in an interruption in acceleration at this point with the airspeed remaining at 115 to 120 KIAS for 7 to 10 seconds.

   1985 March 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “2.3 Airplane Takeoff Performance”, in Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 663, Boeing 727-222, N7647U, Denver, Colorado, May 31, 1984, page 41

6. countableaeronauticsA specific instance of wind shear.

   We hit a nasty shear on approach and had to go around.

7. countableuncountablemathematicsA transformation that displaces every point in a direction parallel to some given line by a distance proportional to the point's distance from the line.
8. countableuncountablegeographyThe response of a rock to deformation usually by compressive stress, resulting in particular textures.

1. misspellingMisspelling of sheer.

plural Shears

1. A surname.

   Real people in a picture that was used by a catfish to create a fake identity could have a claim because their likeness was used without permission, Shear said.

   2013 January 17, Mary Pilon, “In Te’o Story, Deception Ripped From the Screen”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 20 Dec 2020