The meaning of SHEAR is to cut off the hair from. How to use shear in a sentence.
SHEAR definition: 1. to cut the wool off a sheep: 2. to cut the hair on a person's head close to the skin…. Learn more.
To shear a sheep means to cut its wool off. In the Hebrides they shear their sheep later than anywhere else. [VERB noun]
- to cut or clip the hair, fleece, wool, etc., from: to shear sheep. 4. to strip or deprive (usu. fol. by of): to shear someone of power. 5. to travel through by or as if by cutting: Chimney swifts sheared the air. 6. to subject (a solid body or structure) to shear.
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, llama, etc.) by clipping.
Shear refers to the act of cutting something, especially wool from sheep, or to the stress in structural elements causing layers to slide against each other. Sheer, on the other hand, describes something extremely steep, thin to the point of transparency, or outright or complete.
Shear pin, in machinery, such as a plough, designed to shear (break) when a certain force is exceeded, to protect other components of the machine.
Sheer and shear are two words that have the same origin and sound but entirely different meanings. They are often confused with each other and used in a wrong way while writing. Here are a few easy meanings and examples of this pair of homophones to clear out the general confusion about their usage. Shear as verb: