From Middle English sheren, scheren, from Old English sċieran (“to shear; to shave”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeran, from Proto-Germanic *skeraną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”).
Cognate with West Frisian skarre, Low German scheren, Dutch scheren, German scheren, Danish skære, Norwegian Bokmål skjære, Norwegian Nynorsk skjera, Swedish skära, Finnish keritä; and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek κείρω (keírō, “I cut off”), Latin caro (“flesh”), Albanian shqerr (“to tear, cut”), harr (“to cut, to mow”), Lithuanian skìrti (“separate”), Welsh ysgar (“separate”). See also sharp.
shear (third-person singular simple present shears, present participle shearing, simple past sheared or shore, past participle shorn or sheared)
- (intransitive, transitive) To remove the fleece from (a sheep etc.) by clipping.
- Synonym: fleece
- Hypernym: cut off
shear the llamas
- To cut the hair of (a person).
- Coordinate term: shave
shear the afro off someone's head
- To cut, originally with a sword or other bladed weapon, now usually with shears, or as if using shears.
1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe: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.
- (physics) To deform because of forces pushing in opposite directions.
- (aviation, meteorology, intransitive, of wind) To change in direction or speed.
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[1], page 41:The total along-the-runway wind component sheared from an 8-knot headwind to about a 56-knot tailwind over a 44-second period.
- (mathematics) To 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.
- (mining, intransitive) To make a vertical cut in coal.
- (Scotland) To reap, as grain.
1769, John Aldington, A Poem on the Cruelty of Shooting etc.: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
- (figurative) To deprive of property; to fleece.
to remove the fleece from a sheep
- Arabic: جَزَّ (jazza), قَصَّ (qaṣṣa)
- Armenian: խուզել (hy) (xuzel)
- Aromanian: tundu
- Belarusian: стры́гчы impf (strýhčy)
- Bulgarian: стри́жа (bg) impf (stríža)
- Catalan: tondre (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 剪斷/剪断 (zh) (jiǎnduàn)
- Czech: stříhat (cs) m
- Dutch: scheren (nl)
- Finnish: keritä (fi)
- French: tondre (fr)
- Friulian: tosâ
- Galician: tosquiar (gl), esquiloar, arrocar, chamorrar, rapar (gl)
- Georgian: კრეჭვა (ḳreč̣va), კრეჭა (ḳreč̣a), გაკრეჭვა (gaḳreč̣va)
- German: scheren (de)
- Greek: κουρεύω (el) (kourévo)
- Ancient: κείρω (keírō)
- Hungarian: megnyír (hu), lenyír (hu)
- Icelandic: rýja
- Irish: lom
- Italian: tosare (it)
- Japanese: 刈る (ja) (かる, karu)
- Korean: 자르다 (ko) (jareuda)
- Latin: tondeō
- Latvian: cirpt
- Macedonian: стриже impf (striže)
- Maori: kutikuti
- Norwegian: klippe (no)
- Occitan: tónder, tondre (oc)
- Ottoman Turkish: قرقمق (kırkmak)
- Persian: کوتاه کردن (fa) (kutâh kardan)
- Polish: strzyc (pl) impf
- Portuguese: tosar (pt), tosquiar (pt)
- Romanian: tunde (ro)
- Russian: стричь (ru) impf (stričʹ), подстрига́ть (ru) impf (podstrigátʹ)
- Salar: zenle
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: стригати impf, стрићи impf
- Roman: strigati (sh) impf, strići impf
- Sicilian: tùnniri (scn)
- Slovak: strihať impf
- Slovene: striči impf
- Southern Altai: кыркы- (kïrkï-)
- Spanish: esquilar (es), tonsurar (es), tundir (es)
- Tocharian A: wärk-
- Tocharian B: wārk-
- Turkish: kırkmak (tr)
- Ukrainian: стри́гти impf (strýhty)
- Venetian: toxar, tondir, tondar
- Vietnamese: cắt (vi)
- Welsh: cneifio (cy)
- Yiddish: שערן (shern)
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to cut the hair of a person
to cut
- Bulgarian: режа (bg) (reža), срязвам (bg) (srjazvam)
- Catalan: esquilar (ca), tondosar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 切 (zh) (qiē)
- Czech: stříhat (cs), ostříhat, ustřihnout
- Danish: skære (da), klippe (da)
- Dutch: afsnijden (nl), knippen (nl)
- Finnish: viiltää (fi)
- French: couper (fr)
- Galician: tosquiar (gl)
- Georgian: ჭრა (č̣ra), გაჭრა (gač̣ra)
- German: abschneiden (de), schneiden (de)
- Hungarian: vág (hu), levág (hu), nyír (hu)
- Icelandic: skera (is), klippa (is)
- Ido: cizagar (io)
- Indonesian: memotong (id)
- Italian: tagliare (it)
- Japanese: 切る (ja) (きる, kiru)
- Korean: 썰다 (ko) (sseolda)
- Latin: tondeō
- Maori: kutikuti
- Norwegian: klippe (no)
- Ottoman Turkish: قرقمق (kırkmak)
- Polish: ciąć (pl), ścinać (pl)
- Portuguese: cortar (pt), tosquiar (pt) (with shears)
- Quechua: rutuy
- Romanian: tunde (ro)
- Russian: ре́зать (ru) impf (rézatʹ), стричь (ru) impf (stričʹ) (to cut/trim hair), подстрига́ть (ru) impf (podstrigátʹ) (to cut/trim hair)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: исећи pf
- Roman: iseći pf
- Spanish: cizallar (es), cortar (es)
- Yiddish: שערן (shern)
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Translations to be checked
shear (countable and uncountable, plural shears)
- A cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger.
- Synonym: shears
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:short of their wool, and naked from the shear
- (metalworking) A large machine use for cutting sheet metal.
- The act of shearing, or something removed by shearing.
1837, William Youatt, Sheep: Their Breeds, Management, and Diseases: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.
- (physics) Forces that push in opposite directions.
- (aviation, meteorology) Wind shear, or an instance thereof.
We hit a nasty shear on approach and had to go around.
- (mathematics) A 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.
- (geology) The response of a rock to deformation usually by compressive stress, resulting in particular textures.
the act of shearing, or something removed by shearing
a force that produces a shearing strain
shear
- Misspelling of sheer.
- Asher, Rahes, Share, asher, earsh, hares, harse, hears, heras, rheas, sehar, sehra, share