| shear (shîr) v. sheared, sheared or shorn (shôrn, sh  rn), 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. A pair of scissors. Often used in the plural. b. Any of various implements or machines that cut with a scissorlike action. Often used in the plural. 2. The act, process, or result of shearing. 3. Something cut off by shearing. 4. The act, process, or fact of shearing. Used to indicate a sheep's age: a two-shear ram. 5. 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. 6. Physics a. An applied force or system of forces that tends to produce a shearing strain. Also called shearing stress, shear stress. b. 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 sc  ar; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots.]shear  er n. |   pruning and pinking shears |
shears [ʃɪəz]
pl n
1. (Engineering / Tools)
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. (Engineering / Tools) any of various analogous cutting or clipping implements or machines
3. (Engineering / Mechanical Engineering) short for sheerlegs
(Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Agriculture)
off the shears Austral informal (of a sheep) newly shorn
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. | shears - large scissors with strong blades clipper - shears for cutting grass or shrubbery (often used in the plural) pruning shears - shears with strong blades used for light pruning of woody plants pair of scissors, scissors - an edge tool having two crossed pivoting blades thinning shears - shears with one serrate blade; used for thinning hair plural, plural form - the form of a word that is used to denote more than one |
Translations
shears
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