| 释义 |
▪ I. shear, n.1|ʃɪə(r)|
Forms: sing. 1 scéar, 3–6 schere, 4 scheere, 4–6 shere, sheere, 6 share, 6–7 sheir, Sc. scheir, 7–9 scheer, 8– shear; pl. 1 scérero, scéruru, scéroro, scéara, 3 særes, 3–6 scheris, 4 sherys, 4–5 scheres, scherys, sheeris, 4–6 sheris, 4–7 sheres, 5 s(c)herez, schers, shereis, shires, 6 sheires, 6–7 sheyres, sheeres, sheares, 6–9 sheers, 7 shares, 7 shears.
[Prob. two formations: (1) OE. scérero pl.:—OTeut. type *skǣrizō:—pre-Teut. *skēresā, f. root *sker-: see shear v. (2) OE. scéar fem. = MDu. schaer, OHG. scâra (:—*skǣrō), f. the same root. Another declensional variant is represented by OHG. skâr, pl. skâri (whence the later sing. form MHG. schære, mod.G. schere fem.), ON. skǽri neut. pl. (Norw. dial. skjæra fem., skjære masc.).]
1. Originally (and still Sc. and dial.) = scissors. In later use commonly applied to scissors of large size, and to other cutting instruments which similarly operate by the simultaneous action of two blades on opposite sides of the material to be cut.
The various kinds of shears fall into two principal classes: those which are worked in the manner of scissors, and those in which (as in ordinary sheep-shears) the bringing together of the blades is effected by pressure on their stems between the blades and the arched spring by which the stems are connected. Shears of the latter class have now sometimes three or more blades instead of two.
Often with defining word indicating the purpose for which the instrument is intended or some peculiarity of its construction, as bar-shears, clipping shears, etc. q.v. under the first element; also sheep-shears.
a. in pl. form, with plural construction, either in sing. or plural sense. When qualification by a numeral or an indefinite article is required, pair of shears is used.
c725Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) F. 263 Forfices, scerero. Ibid. 279 Forfex, isern, sceruru. c897ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xviii. 138 Ðætte ða sacerdas ne sceoldon no hiera heafdu scieran mid scearseaxum..ac hie sceoldon hie efsian mid scearum. c1050Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 399/19 Forficis, sceara. a1100Gerefa in Anglia IX. 263 He sceal..habban..horscamb and sceara. c1205Lay. 14215 Whætte his særes alse he schæren wolde. c1300Havelok 857 He tok þe sh[e]res of þe nayl And made him a couel of þe sayl. c1386Chaucer Wife's Prol. 722 How Sampson loste his heres, Slepynge, his lemman kitte it with hir sheres. 1390Gower Conf. II. 318 And out he clippeth also faste Hire tunge with a peire scheres. 1473in Arnolde's Chron. (1502) 27 b/1 It is..enacted, that noo wullen cloth.. be shorne..but yf it be fully wet opon peine of forfetur of the said cloth... The sherar therof shal lese his shereis and pay xx. s' for euery pece cloth. 1527Knaresb. Wills (Surtees) I. 21 Oon pair of sheris and iiij shepe. 1574in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 246 Grynding of Sheeres to clypp the Assedue. a1586Sidney Arcadia iii. (Sommer) 278 The sheares also were at hand to behead the silke. 1628[P. Fletcher] Brittain's Ida i. ii, His Nimph-like face ne're felt the nimble sheeres. 1686Plot Staffordsh. 380 Admitting of formation by the Gardiner's sheers. 1783Burns Death of Mailie 40 So may they [sheep], like their great forbears, For monie a year come thro' the sheers. 1855Delamer Kitchen Garden 17 A pair of shears, for clipping box-edging and quickset hedges. 1902Marshall Metal Tools 44 For cutting thin sheet metal and wire, a pair of hand-shears.
¶ In tavern signs.
1600Sir John Oldcastle v. v. 12 Yonder at the sheeres. 1826Hone's Every-d. Bk. I. ii. 1230 The ‘Hand and Shears’, a public house [in Cloth-fair].
b. in sing. form, = a pair of shears. Now rare.
a1300Cursor M. 7240 Quils sampson slepped, sco laght a schere, His hare sco kerf. c1386Chaucer Monk's T. 66 Ne on his heed com rasour noon ne schere. 1455in Anstey Munim. Acad. (Rolls) II. 664, j. shere to snoffe candels. a1568Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 396 Thow yeid with elwand, scheir and thymmill, Full mony a day seikand thy craft. 1643Orkney Witch Trial in Misc. Abbotsf. Club (1837) I. 184 Laid ane woll scheir on the coggis mouth. 1661Petty in T. Birch Hist. Roy. Soc. (1756) I. 64 Then the sheer works rank, that is, takes off a deep flock. Ibid., So few men can set and grind a shear exactly.
¶c. in pl. form construed as sing.
1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, cclxvii, One Shears must cutt them both. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 141 A shears fixed at the extremity of a long handle, and which clips and holds fast at the same time.
d. As used for purposes of divination. Commonly sieve and shears.
1549in Narr. Reform. (Camden) 334 Sir Robert Brian..conjureth with a syve and a pair of sheeres. 1570[see riddle n. 1 b]. 1602–1843 [see sieve 2 b].
†e. In proverbial use. there goes but a pair of shears between them, they match each other as if cut from the same cloth; they are ‘of a piece’ (very common in 16–17th c.). chalk is not shears (Sc.), chalking the cloth is not cutting it. Obs.
1579Lyly Euphues Wks. 1902 I. 195 The Sympathia of affections and as it were but a payre of sheeres to goe betweene theire natures. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. i. ii. 28. 1632 Star Chamber Cases (Camden) 98 There went but a paire of sheeres between a Papist and a Protestant, and not a pinne to choose of what religion a man is. 1643in W. Macgill Old Ross-sh. (1909) 314, I feir me they sall be long in concluding, as we say in the comon proverbe ‘Calke is no sheyres’.
f. fig., esp. as attributed to the Fates.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 348 O sisters three, come, come to mee, With hands as pale as Milke, Lay them in gore, since you haue shore With sheeres, his thred of silke. 1637Milton Lycidas 75 Comes the blind Fury with th'abhorred shears, And slits the thin spun life. 1795Southey Vis. Maid of Orleans i. 309 Observe how soon..they change Their snowy hue,..Till Atropos relentless shuts the sheers. 1886Campbell-Bannerman Sp. 13 May in Hansard's Parl. Deb. Ser. iii. CCCV. 939 The shears of destiny in the hands of Mr. Jesse Collings were ready.
g. Mech. In modern use, applied to various machines for cutting metals, more or less analogous to shears in manner of operation.
1834–6P. Barlow Manuf. §876 in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VIII. 615 Cut up into narrow slips..by means of a pair of circular shears. 1869Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. K 1, These shears are so arranged that the long plates can be cut in two or more divisions. Ibid. K 6, Fig. 2 is an end view of carriage, showing side views of punch and shear, and front view of drill.
h. Cloth-manuf. The cutting apparatus of a cloth cropping machine composed of a series of spiral blades on a revolving cylinder which cut against a ledger blade; also each of these blades.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1323 This wire..being hardened is intended to constitute one edge of the shear or cutter. Ibid. 1326 A straight blade of steel..forms the leger blade, or lower fixed edge of the shears. 1846Holtzapffel Turning II. 913 Revolving shears or ‘perpetual shears’ are used for shearing off the loose fibres from the face of woollen cloths.
i. One of the blades of a pair of shears.
1794G. Adams Nat. & Exper. Philos. III. xxxi. 235 The upper shear is riveted to a couple of strong standards. 1884Cassell's Techn. Educ. II. 19/1 Immediately after the cut of the shear commences the iron must be divided completely across.
j. In phr. off (the) shears: of sheep, just shorn. Austral. and N.Z.
1888J. Bradshaw N.Z. of Today vi. 110 The hoggett..in 1882 could be readily sold ‘off the shears’ at twelve shillings. 1896T. W. Heney Girl at Birrell's 69 Now and again a buyer visited the stations to get cheap sheep ‘off shears’. 1930L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. viii. 216 He drove them over Porter's Pass off the shears. 1964T. Ronan Packhorse & Pearling Boat 147 The sheep had arrived off-shears.
¶2. Misused for: (a) a knife; (b) a scythe.
1382Wyclif 3 Kings xviii. 28 Thei cuttiden hem self..with sheeris and litil launcis [Vulg. cultris et lanceolis]. 1887Mrs. Laffan Song of Jubilee 58 We could hear The whetstone grate upon the mower's shear.
†3. pl. Something having the shape of a pair of shears.
a. ? The clavicles;
b. = shear-battle (see 7);
c. A pair of wings;
d. The pincer-like claws of a crustacean. Obs.
1506Kal. Sheph. K 8 b, By the necke betwene the head & the sholders ben .ii. bones named the sheres. 1560Whitehorne Ord. Souldiers iv. 7 b, The Sheeres are made with twoo Triangels ioyned togethers for to receiue betwen them the said battell. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. viii. 5 Two sharpe winged sheares, Decked with diuerse plumes, like painted Iayes, Were fixed at his backe, to cut his ayerie wayes. 1682K. Digby Chym. Secr. ii. 195 The black ends of the shares of Crabs. 1714Derham Phys.-Theol. iv. xiii. (ed. 2) 234 note, Two toothy Cheeks, somewhat like the Sheers of Lobsters.
4. pl. (Often construed as sing.) A device used upon ships, and in dockyards and mines, for raising and fixing masts, boilers and other heavy gear, consisting of two (or sometimes more) poles steadied (in a sloping position) by guys and fastened together at the top, from which the hoisting tackle depends, and with their lower ends separated as a base and secured to the deck or platform. Often spelt sheers. [Cf. G. scherenkran.]
a1625Nomenclator Navalis (Harl. MS. 2301) Sheeres. 1644[see sheepshanks2]. 1739C. Labelye Westm. Bridge 36 The Sheers and Crab made use of in lifting the Stone. 1834Marryat P. Simple xlvii, Then the shears were seen forward. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artill. Man. (1862) 130 The legs or spars for sheers. 1860Engl. & For. Mining Gloss., Cornw. (ed. 2) 22 Shears..for the convenience of lifting out or lowering into the shaft, timber, or other things of great length. 1907J. H. Patterson Man-Eaters of Tsavo x. 107, I..improvised a shears made of a couple of thirty-foot rails.
5. pl. A collector's name for any of several moths of the genus Hadena (Schrank), esp. H. plebeia; also H. glauca, the glaucous shears, H. leucostigma, the white-spot shears, H. ochracea, the tawny shears.
1832Rennie Butterfl. & M. 67. 1869 E. Newman Brit. Moths 415.
6. attrib. and Comb. Simple attrib., as shear-blade, shear-handle, shear-lever, shear-machine, shear-mark, shear rivet, shear slide, shear-smith, (sense 4) shear-derrick, shear-pole; objective, as shear-grinder, shear-grinding, shear-maker; similative, as shear-shaped adj.
1812Niles' Weekly Reg. 25 Jan. 390/1 The subscriber at short notice can furnish clothier's *shear blades. 1869Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. K 1, With shear blades long enough to shear a plate at one cut.
1838Civ. Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 268/1 For the purpose of hoisting the stone to the *shear dericks at the top.
1688Rec. Scott. Cloth Manuf. New Mills (S.H.S.) 178 John Gray *shear-grinder.
1875Knight Mech. Dict., *Shear-grinding Machine.
1688Holme Armoury iii. 348/1 He beareth Azure, a pair of Clothiers Shears, Argent; and the *Shear handle Or.
1869Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. K 8, The *shear lever.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 720 Two pairs of *shear-machines.
1797J. Robinson's Directory of Sheffield 172 *Shear Makers.
1934Dylan Thomas Let. 25 Apr. (1966) 111 There were no *shear-marks visible in my last letter for the reason that I had cut out nothing.
1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxxv, We were obliged to go aloft upon the ropes and *shearpoles.
1859F. S. Cooper Ironmongers' Catal. 63 With *Shear Rivets.
1875C. C. Blake Zool. 297 The *shearshaped palps are twice as long as the body.
1869Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. K 6, *Shear slide.
1623–4Act 21 Jas. I, c. 31 §6 The Occupacion of a Cutler Scissorsmith *Shearsmith or Sicklesmith within..Hallamshire. 1756Pennecuik Hist. Blue Blanket 42 Shear-smiths.
7. Special comb.: † shear-battle Mil., a tactical arrangement of forces into two wedge-shaped formations acting in parallel directions toward the same objective; shear-bill [tr. F. bec-en-ciseaux (Buffon)], the Scissor-bill; shear board, a padded board over which the cloth was stretched for cropping with hand-shears; also attrib.; shear-frame (see quot.); shear mark, a mark upon a hide or fleece made when clipping an animal; also fig.; also shear-marked a.; shear-mast (see quot.); shear-tail, (a) dial., a name for the Common Tern (Sterna fluviatilis); (b) a Peruvian bird (Thaumastura cora).
1598Barret Theor. Warres 80 Loe here the *sheere battell framed of 4 battallions.
1793tr. Buffon's Nat. Hist. Birds VIII. 412 The *Shearbill.
1562Richmond Wills (Surtees) 156 In the shoppe, shears, *shearborde, and wyrkingere, xjs. Ibid. 153 Shearborde handills. 1733[P. Lindsay] Interest Scot. 110 The cutting on the Shear-board. 1880F. Peel Luddites 9 While the pair of cropping shears were working across the length of the two pieces fixed and prepared on the shear boards.
Ibid., The *shear-frame was one by means of which the two hand-shears could be worked at one and the same time instead of one by the hand cropper.
a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. xxvii. §4 (1912) 321 [They returned home] most of them with *share-marks of their folly. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 866 The shear-marks are seen to run in parallel bands round the carcass. 1892Berwick Advertiser 16 Sept. 1/6 A Red and White Stirk; one shear mark on near hind quarter.
1696Lond. Gaz. No. 3245/4 A Chesnut Mare about 13 hands high,..*shear marked on the top of the Buttock E.B.
1867Smyth Sailors' Word-bk., *Sheer-mast, the peculiar rig of the rafts on the Guayaquil river..having a pair of sheers (instead of a single mast) within which the fore-and-aft mainsail works.
1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 203 *Shear tail. 1899A. H. Evans Birds vi. 438 The ‘Peruvian Shear-tail’ is golden-green, with crimson throat shading into blue, and white under surface.
▪ II. shear, n.2|ʃɪə(r)|
Forms: 6 sheere, 6–7 share, sheare, shere, Sc. scheir, 7 sheer, sheir, 6– shear.
[f. shear v.]
I. Action or result of shearing. Now chiefly dial.
1. a. A mowing of grass or corn, a crop.
1794Har'st Rig vi, And ay they tell, That, ‘a green shear Is an ill shake’. 1813Vancouver Agric. Devon 224 Let the shear or swarth be what it may, the average price of mowing is stated..at 2s. 4d. per acre. 1882Cornish Telegraph 29 June 5 The shear of hay will be a splendid one.
b. A shearing (of wool), a fleece.
1801W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XII. 579 By subdividing multifariously the sorts of wool to which the growers are to attend, the number of competitors in each line of shear will become very small.
c. transf. A shorn animal.
1659Rec. Baron Crt. Stitchill (S.H.S.) 16 Ilke sheir without a hird 4d. for ilke fault.
d. Used in stating the age of sheep with reference to the number of times the fleece has been shorn. one shear, two shear: one, two years old. Also attrib. as two-shear ram.
1614Markham Cheap Husb. iii. xxx. 80 If you will know the age of your Sheepe, looke in his mouth, and when hee is one sheare hee will haue two broad teeth afore. 1790W. H. Marshall Midl. Counties I. 398, I have seen wedders, of only two shear (two to three years old) so loaded with fat, as [etc.]. Ibid., A loin of mutton of a sheep (ten shear) of twenty-six pounds a quarter, weighed [etc.]. 1799A. Young Agric. Lincoln. 309 He has some shearling tups, and two shear that are good. 1911Midl. Counties Herald 29 June 4/2 Two shear ram.
2. The action of shearing or cutting. Sc.
17..Jacobite Song, Wee German Lairdie iv, And we've the trenching blades o' weir, Wad..pass ye 'neath the claymore's sheer, Thou feckless German lairdie! 1809T. Donaldson Poems 58, I know not but I may come back: To..help to gie your corn a shear.
3. A cut edge.
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 1038 Moss-sods..laid perfectly close, the shear of each fitted to the other.
4. A division, parting. (Cf. shear v. 8 b.)
1876Skene Celtic Scot. Introd. I. 10 The great wind and water shear which separates the eastern from the western districts.
5. attrib. and Comb., as shear-day, shear-time; shear-darg Sc., a day's work at reaping or shearing; † shear-mill, ? = shear-shop; shear-sheep, a sheep that has passed its first shearing and so more than one year old; † shear-shop, a place in which the manufacture of cloth is conducted; shear wether hog (see shearhog); † shear-wool (see quot.).
1600in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1605, 594/2 Lie *scheirdarg. 1689Visct. Dundee Sp. in J. Drummond of Balhaldy Mem. Lochiel (1842) 264, I beg leave of yow, however, to allow me to give one ‘Shear-darg’ to the King, my master, that I may have ane opportunity of convincing the brave Clans that [etc.]. 1717Select. Scott. Forfeited Estates Papers (S.H.S.) Introd. 30 Shear-Dirgs..4 at 5d. each.
1565in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1581, 58/1, 4 lie *scheir-day-wrokis. a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 319 Barn-room enough to house my sheep the evening before shear-day.
1607Norden Survey. Dial. iii. 108 Paper-mill, Sawing-mil, *Shere-mil, or any other kind of Mill.
1503Maldon (Essex) Crt. Rolls Bundle 62 no. iv, Defendens conduxit pasturam..pro centum ovibus vocat. *share shepe a festo sancti Michaelis archangeli. 1688Holme Armoury ii. 176/2 A share sheep, at two years old.
1688Rec. Scott. Cloth Manuf. New Mills (S.H.S.) 178 Whearas Mr. Debnams *shearshope is not lairge enowgh for his shearmen to dress ther work in, therfor [etc.].
1518Coventry Leet Bk. 658 The next *Shear tyme. 1811T. Davis Agric. Wilts 260 Wether hogs, chilver hogs, from thence [about Christmas] till shear-time.
1537in North Country Wills (Surtees) 103, I geve unto..John half a hundreth of *share wedder hogges or ewe hogges at his pleasure.
1585Higins Nomenclator 173/1 Tomentum. *Sheerewooll: flocks, such as clothworkers make in sheering.
II. In scientific uses.
6. a. Physics and Mech. (a) A kind of strain consisting in a movement of planes of a body that are parallel to a particular plane in a direction parallel to a line in that plane through distances proportional to their distances from that plane. (b) The stress called into play in a body which undergoes this kind of strain.
1850[see shear v. 9]. 1858Rankine Man. Appl. Mechanics §103. 87 Planes of Equal Shear, or Tangential Stress. 1867Thomson & Tait Nat. Philos. I. §171 This kind of strain is called a simple shear. 1869H. Moseley in Lond. etc. Philos. Jrnl. XXXVII. 230 The unit of shear being the pressure in lbs. necessary to overcome the resistance to shearing of one square inch. 1883Lodge in Nature XXVII. 328 The bound ether inside a conductor has no rigidity; it cannot resist shear. 1885Glazebrook & Shaw Pract. Physics 139 The body is said to undergo a simple shear. 1888Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. s.v. Shear, A bar is said to be in shear when it is subject to shearing stress. 1894Todhunter & Pearson Hist. Th. Elasticity II. ii. 386 The authors [Thomson & Tait] term it a simple shear. This is unfortunate, for that word was introduced by George Stephenson to denote the transverse stress in rivets, and has been consistently used in this sense of stress by Rankine and the majority of engineers since. Its present confused use partly for stress and partly for strain has been avoided in our own work by the introduction of the term slide for shearing strain. 1906Love Math. Th. Elasticity (ed. 2) 532 The word ‘shear’ has been used in the sense attached to it in the text by Kelvin and Tait. Rankine proposed to use it for what has been called ‘tangential traction’.
b. Geom. The transformation produced in a plane figure by motion in which all the points of the figure describe paths parallel to a fixed axis and proportional in length to their distance from it. (See quot.)
1885O. Henrici Projection in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 797/2 Such a transformation of a plane figure is produced by a shearing stress in any section of a homogeneous elastic solid. For this reason Sir William Thomson has given it the name of shear.
7. Geol. Applied to the operation of transverse compression on a mass of rock, resulting in alteration of structure or breach of continuity.
1888, etc. [see shear plane, sense 8 below]. 1889O. Fisher Physics Earth's Crust xx. (ed. 2) 268 The same amount of shear, which at one locality produces crumpling, may in another..produce schistosity. 1911[see shear-zone, sense 8 below]
8. attrib. and Comb., as shear centre, the point in the plane of a section of a structural member through which a shear force can be applied without producing torsion; shear flow, flow which is accompanied by or occurs under the influence of a shearing force: shear modulus = modulus of rigidity s.v. rigidity 1 b; shear plane Geol., a boundary surface between bodies of rock or ice which have experienced relative motion parallel to the surface; shear strength = shearing strength s.v. shearing vbl. n. 8 b; shear stress, stress tending to produce shear; shear-thickening n. and a., (the property of) becoming more viscous when subjected to shear; similarly, shear-thinning n. and a.; shear wave, an elastic wave which vibrates transversely to the direction of propagation; an S-wave; shear-zone Geol. (see quot.).
1937A. P. Poorman Strength of Materials (ed. 3) vii. 142 This point of application of the load, in order that there shall be no twist of the beam as it deflects, is called the shear centre. 1972T. H. G. Megson Aircraft Struct. vii. 247 For cruciform or angle sections..the shear centre is located at the intersection of the sides.
1950Phil. Mag. XLI. 890 (heading) The eddy viscosity in turbulent shear flow. 1975Raudkivi & Callander Adv. Fluid Mech. iv. 155 A shear flow has non-zero gradients of mean velocity and the fluid is being sheared by the mean motion.
1937Dodge & Thompson Fluid Mech. viii. 165 An analogy is often drawn between the coefficient µ and the shear modulus of elastic materials. 1973J. G. Tweeddale Materials Technol. I. iv. 86 The shear modulus may be obtained from experimental values of torsional load and torsional strain measured on a cylindrical test segment.
1888Teall Brit. Petrogr. 447 Shearing, differential movement in a rock-mass. When the movement is concentrated along a plane, this plane is said to be a shear-plane. 1903E. W. Claypole in Amer. Geol. Aug. 81 (Cent. Dict. Suppl.), Some [strata] are completely concealed by others that have been forced over them along shear-planes developed by the enormous pressures to which they have been subjected. 1969Bennison & Wright Geol. Hist. Brit. Isles xvi. 356 Recent work on the mechanism of ice flow shows that shear planes occur and that these carry material from the sole of the ice sheet to the surface.
1931Laurson & Cox Properties & Mechanics of Materials i. 13 For most brittle materials..the tensile strength is least, the shear strength next, and the compressive strength greatest. 1978Sci. Amer. Apr. 122/3 Under some circumstances molten silicates may not behave like ordinary fluids; they may have a shear strength greater than zero.
1937Dodge & Thompson Fluid Mech. viii. 165 There is..an important distinction between the effects of shear stress on solids and on liquids. 1971J. W. Ireland Mech. Fluids viii. 242 Determine the shear stress at the pipe walls when water flows at the rate of 300 litres/min. through a 7·5 cm diameter pipe 150 m long.
1963A. J. de Vries in P. Sherman Rheol. Emulsions 146 (Index), Shear thickening, activation energy. 1966Jrnl. Colloid & Interface Sci. XXII. 554/1 This shear thickening leads to a maximum viscosity beyond which shear thinning occurs as the shear rate is increased. 1978Sci. Amer. Nov. 143/2 The easiest example of a shear-thickening fluid that you can whip up in the kitchen is a simple mixture of water and cornstarch (or any common starch).
1966Shear-thinning [see shear-thickening above]. 1974P. L. Moore et al. Drilling Practices Manual ii. 25 Most [drilling] muds are shear thinning. 1978Sci. Amer. Nov. 142/3 The advantage of shear-thinning is perhaps most apparent in ink. You want the ink in your ball-point to flow freely (by being sheared) as you write, but you do not want it to flow when the pen is in your pocket.
1936J. B. Macelwane Introd. Theoret. Seismol. vii. 147 An isotropic elastic solid can transmit two types of waves, compressional and shear waves. 1977A. Hallam Planet Earth 12 The outer core does not transmit shear waves and so must be liquid.
1911J. F. Kemp Min. Deposits in Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 507/2 Sometimes..strains of compression have been eased by local crushing along comparatively narrow belts without appreciable..displacement of the sides such as would be required by a pronounced fault. The word shear-zone has become quite widely used in recent years as..applicable to these cases.
▪ III. shear, n.3|ʃɪə(r)|
Also sheer.
[Of uncertain origin; not easily identified with shear n.1 or n.2]
The bar, or one of the two parallel bars forming the bed of a lathe, on which the poppets slide. Also attrib.
1812P. Nicholson Mech. Exerc. 364 The bed [of a foot lathe] consists of two parallel parts, called by some shears. 1869Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. N 1, Two cast iron end standards..upon which is laid the long massive cast iron shear-piece. 1873J. Richards Wood-working Factories 160 The shear, or lathe frame..can be made of wood. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1262 The bar-lathe has a single beam or shear, generally of a triangular shape. Ibid., The bed-lathe is the usual form, and has two parallel shears. Ibid., The bed, sheers, cheeks, sides, on which the puppets slide.
▪ IV. shear, v.|ʃɪə(r)|
Pa. tense sheared |ʃɪəd|, shore |ʃɔə(r)|; pa. pple. sheared, shorn |ʃɔːn|. Forms: 1 sciran, scieran, scyran, scearan, sceoran, sceran, 3 scer, scire, schær, sere, ssere, 3–5 scere, 3–6 schere, 3–7 shere, 4–6 scher, 5 sher, 5–7 scheir, 6 scheer, cheir, shire, (? shore), 6–7 share, sheare, sheere, 7 sheire, 6–9 sheer, 5– shear. pa. tense, strong 1 pl. scǽron, subj. sing. scéare, 3 sar, scar(e, scher, 3–6 schare, 4 schaar, 4–5 shar, schar, shere, schere, 4–6 schair, schure, 5 share, schayr, 5–6 schewre, 8 Sc. shure, 6– shore. weak: 4 scherde, 5 scharde, scharid, scherid, 6 sheard, 9 sheered, 7– sheared. pa. pple., strong 1 scoren, 3 soren, 3–4 schoren, 3–5 scorn, schorn, 4 shorun, schorin, sheren, 4–6 schorne, 4–7 shorne, 5 shor, 4–7 shore, 6 shoren, -on, 4– shorn; also 5 y-schorn(e, y-shore, y-schore, 5, 7 y-shorne. weak: 4 schurd, 4–5 schard, 6 chard, 7– sheared.
[A. Com.Teut. verb, originally strong: OE. sceran, pa. tense *scear, scǽron, pa. pple. scoren, corresponds to OFris. skera, schera, OS. (bi)sceran (Gallée), LG. scheren, MDu., Du. scheren, pa. tense schoor, pa. pple. geschoren, OHG. sceran, pa. tense scar, pa. pple. giscoran (MHG. scheren, schar, geschoren, mod.G. scheren, schor, geschoren), ON. skera, pa. tense skar, pa. pple. skorenn (Sw. skära, skar, skuren, Da. skjære, skar, skaaret):—OTeut. *sker-, skar-, skǣr-, skur- to cut, divide, shear, shave. For Teut. cognates see share n.1 and n.2, shear n.1, shard, score, shore. Outside Teut. the root appears to be found in Gr. κείρειν to shave, Lith. skirti to separate, Irish scaraim, I separate.]
1. a. trans. To cut (something) with a sharp instrument. Often with adv. or advb. phrase, as asunder, in pieces, in two. Obs. exc. arch. † Also occas. to pierce, thrust through.
Beowulf 1287 (Gr.) Sweord..swin ofer helme ecgum dyhtiᵹ andweard scireð. a1000Andreas 1181 Lætað wæpnes spor, iren ecgheard, ea[l]dorᵹeard sceoran. a1225St. Marher. 22 Ant tet scharpe sweord..scher hire bi þe schuldren. a1300Cursor M. 8875 Wit ax he wald haf scorn it [þe tre] þan. Ibid. 16554 In tua þis tre þai scare. c1320Sir Tristr. 474 Tristrem schare þe brest. a1340Hampole Psalter, Cant. Ezech. 5 Bifore shorne is as of þe wefand my life whils ȝit .i. bigan he sheris me down. 13..Coer de L. 3001 Ther was many gentyl heved, Quykly fro the body weved; Scheldes many schorn in twoo. a1400Morte Arth. 1856 They scherde in the schiltrone scheldyde knyghttez. c1400Melayne 1093 And hawberkes sone in schredis were schorne. 14..Erasmus in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 202 Sheryng his flesshe with cikels. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 2200 Þe roche away he share. 1563Mirr. Mag., Collingbourne xviii, His grashyng tuskes my tender grystels shore. a1568Christ's Kirk Gr. 68 Throwch baith the cheikis he thocht to cheir him, Or throw the erss haif chard him. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 31 Cymochles sword..nigh one quarter sheard away. a1593Marlowe & Nashe Dido iv. iv, For this will Dido..sheere ye all asunder with her hands. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 90 At the first straik..it wolde scheir a man in twa. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §311 As bright as if shorn by a file. 1821J. Baillie Metr. Leg., Ghost of Fadon xxxix, His sword shore empty air. 1887Morris Odyss. x. 127, I sheared the hawser of my ship.
b. absol. or intr. Now chiefly, To cut through (an obstacle) with the aid of a weapon. † Also with cognate obj., to cut (one's way, passage).
c1205Lay. 14216 Whætte his særes alse he schæren wolde. 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 213 As wel schapen to schere as scharp rasores. c1470Gol. & Gaw. 968 Sa wondir scharply he schare throu his schene schroud. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 326 Ane small arrow, that scharpe as rasour schair. 1562T. Phaer æneid viii. Z 4 Through y⊇ tydes they [the dolphins] shering glaunst. 1590Spenser F.Q. iii. iv. 42 Then all the rest into their coches clim, And through the brackish waues their passage sheare. 1666Dryden Ann. Mirab. lxxviii, So thick, our Navy scarce could sheer their way. 1838Lytton Leila ii. ii, By a back stroke of his own cimeter shore through the cuirass. 1898Steevens With Kitchener to Khartum 273 Through the swordsmen they [sc. the Lancers] shore without checking.
†c. trans. To circumcise. (Also with about.)
c1250Gen. & Ex. 1200 Ðe eȝtende dai..Circumcised he was, a-buten schoren. a1300Cursor M. 2695 Him self and ismael he scare.
†d. To cut for the stone. Const. of. Sc. Obs.
a1557Diurn. Occurr. (Bannatyne Club) 77 Henrie bischope of Ross was schorne of the stane. 1572Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 529/1 James..hes bene twyis schorne of the stane.
†e. To cut up, to chop (a substance) fine, to mince. Obs.
c1430Two Cookery-bks. 11 Shere Oynonys, an frye hem in oyle. 1613J. May Decl. Estate Clothing v. 29 Flox..which they can sheare as small as dust. 1725Ramsay Gent. Sheph. ii. i, Small are they shorn.
† f. To carve (meat) at table. Also absol. Obs.
c1320Sir Tristr. 602 Bifor him scheres þe mes, Þe king. 1375Barbour Bruce ii. 92 Iames off Dowglas, that ay⁓quhar All-wayis befor the byschop schar. a1440Sir Degrev. 801 All the met that she schare.
†g. To gnaw through, cut in pieces with the teeth. Also intr. const. through. Obs.
1530Palsgr. 702/1 Take hede on hym [a hounde], for he wyl sheare his lyme. 1587Harrison England iii. iv. 225/2 in Holinshed, The beuer..will..shere thorough a dubble billet in a night. 1631Markham Country Content. i. x. (ed. 4) 72 They defend the line from shearing or cutting in pieces with the teeth of the Pike.
†h. To make (a hole, a wound) by cutting. Obs.
c1425Noah's Ark 57 in Non-Cycle Myst. Plays (1909) 21 Look that..in her side a door thou shear. c1440York Myst. xlii. 161 Fele the wound þe spere did schere riȝt in his syde. 1617W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. x. (1623) 22 Mice..will in eyther at the mouth [of the hive], or sheere themselues an hole.
†i. To rend, tear. Also intr. for refl. Obs.
c1450Mirour Saluacioun (1888) 93 Jacob..share his clothis vtward. c1500Kennedy Passion of Christ 1067 The wale full sone [haly] intwa it schure. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 105 He schewre his feddreme..And slippit owt of it full clene. 1513Douglas æneis viii. xii. 70 Wyth mantell rent and schorne men micht hir se.
j. To cut (glass, tin-plate, etc.) with shears. Also, to cut (iron or steel bars, etc.) with shears (see shear n.1 1 g).
1837L. Hebert Engin. & Mech. Encycl. I. 774 Shearing the Bars.—This rough bar is..put between the jaws of a pair of shears..and cut into lengths of about a foot each. 1850E. Clark Britannia & Conway Bridges II. 665 The storing away of the plates..as they were sheared and punched. 1869Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. K 1, Shear blades long enough to shear a plate at one cut. 1883H. J. Powell Princ. Glass-making 63 The workman heats the severed edge, shears it even, and smooths and rounds it by melting. 1884Cassell's Techn. Educ. II. 19/1 A bar of wrought iron one square inch in section is required to be sheared across.
2. a. To remove (a part) from a body by cutting with a sharp instrument. Chiefly with adv. to cut off, out, away.
c1320Sir Tristr. 1485 His tong haþ he..schorn of bi þe rote. 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1337 Þen scher þay out þe schulderez with her scharp knyuez. 1483Caxton Golden Leg. 214/1 Kenelme kyng barn lyeth under a thorn his hede of shorn. 1581A. Hall Iliad v. 78 His right hande at a blow his falchon off did shere. 1614Gorges Lucan vi. 222 He..with his blade sheares off their wrists. 1740Somerville Hobbinol ii. 58 With its sharpen'd Edge Shear'd both his Ears. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xxxi, The plume was partly shorn away. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. i. iv, The guillotine-axe, which sheers away thy vainly whimpering head! 1852Kingsley Androm. 306 As the vine-hook shears off the vine-bough. 1902E. Phillpotts River 322 He shore off the crust of the heath.
†b. fig.
a1340Hampole Psalter cxviii. 36 Make my herte meke and lufand,..þat auarice be quytly shorne fra me. c1400Rule St. Benet (Prose) 11 And scere o-way [L. amputare] al þe langing of yure fleis. Ibid. 36 And for þi þat it es vice of propirte, sal it be scorn als þifte.
†c. To fashion by cutting out of a sheet of metal. Obs.
1706Pettus Fodinæ Reg. xxvi. 79 The Moniers, who are some to sheer the Money, some to forge it [etc.].
3. a. To remove (the hair or beard) by means of some sharp instrument (also with off, away); to shave (the head or face); to cut (the hair) close or short; to cut or shave the hair or beard of (a person). Now rare exc. in pa. pple. shorn.
c897ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xviii. 138 Swiðe ryhtlice wæs ðæm sacerde forboden ðæt he his heafod sceare. c1000ælfric Lev. xix. 27 Ne ᵹe eow ne efesion ne beard ne sciron! c1205Lay. 17663 He scar [c 1275 sar] his crune ufenen. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 3160 His berd he let ssere verst. a1300Cursor M. 7211 War mi hare schorn [Gött. schorin, Fairf. shorne], i war noght þan Stranger þan a-noþer man. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 169 Metridas his secounde wyf schaar hir heed for love of here housbonde. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1906) 92 She share of and cut awey the heres of his hede. 1526Tindale Acts xviii. 18 He had schorne his heed in Cenchrea. 1596Spenser F.Q. iv. v. 34 Shagged heare, The which he neuer wont to combe, or comely sheare. 1624Capt. Smith Virginia ii. 25 His hayre, the one side was long, the other shore close. 1786Pogonologia 97 The preacher drew out a pair of scissars, and sheared the prince's chin. 1821Southey Exped. Orsua 98 Their hair was sheared in circles. 1850Mrs. Browning Lam. for Adonis vii, They have shorn their bright curls off to cast on Adonis. 1865Kingsley Herew. xv, But I am no monk. I have shorn many a crown, but I have kept my own hair as yet, you see.
†b. To give the tonsure to. Usually in passive, to be shorn a monk; also occas. refl. Also to be shorn in, to be initiated to the religious life by the reception of the tonsure. Obs. or arch.
a950Guthlac (Prose) vii. (1909) 138 Ða ᵹelamp hit sume dæᵹe þæt se ylca preost com to þam eadiᵹan were, þæt he hine wolde scyran. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 7 He..was i-schore monk in an abbay. 1565Stapleton tr. Bede's Hist. Ch. Eng. 165 Being shoren in, he went into a secret cell which the abbot had prouided for him. 1567–9Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 372 The King was shorne into an Abbie, and made a Monke. 1591G. Fletcher Russe Commw. (Hakl. Soc.) 35 Some are put into Abbeyes, and shire themselves friers by pretence of a vowe. 1653Holcroft Procopius, Pers. Wars ii. xxii. 68 When John was shorne a Priest.
4. a. In passive, to be shorn: to be deprived of some part or appurtenance by or as by cutting. Chiefly transf. and fig. in certain collocations originally alluding to sense 3, e.g. (of a luminary) to be shorn of its beams; to be shorn of one's strength (? in allusion to the story of Samson), of one's authority, privileges, etc.
1740Somerville Hobbinol ii. 87 The tall Oak,..shorn of his leafy shade. 1778Johnson Let. 3 July in Boswell, He cannot bear the thought of living at—in a state of diminution; and of appearing among the gentlemen of the neighbourhood shorn of his beams. 1836Thirlwall Greece xvii. III. 23 A law, by which the Areopagus was shorn of its authority. a1849Poe Annie Poems (1859) 116 Sadly I know I am shorn of my strength. 1875Scudamore Day Dreams 8 It is shorn of its former proportions.
b. rarely active (in compound tenses with shorn).
1878R. B. Smith Carthage 79 The misgovernment of domestic tyrants had shorn it of much of its grandeur.
5. a. To cut the fleece from (an animal); also, to cut off (the fleece, wool, etc.).
900in Birch Cartul. Sax. (1887) II. 241 And hi sculan waxan sceap and sciran on hiora aᵹenre hwile. 1388Wyclif Gen. xxxi. 19 Laban ȝede to schere scheep. c1440York Myst. xxviii. 141 Lyke schepe þat were scharid A-way schall ȝe schake. 1557Tusser 100 Points Husb. §81 (1878) 231 In June washe thy shepe,..Then share them. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. v. 37 So many yeares, ere I shall sheere the Fleece. 1615Swetnam Arraign. Lewd Women ii. 29 Is not..the sheepe sheared for his fliece? 1759R. Brown Compl. Farmer 81 In some countries they shear their geese. 1867G. Macdonald Poems 283 He gathered the hemp, and he shore the wool.
Proverb.c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. x. (1885) 132 And so his hyghnes shall haue þeroff, but as hadd þe man þat sherid is hogge, muche crye and litil woll. 1654Gayton Pleas. Notes i. v. 17 The Wooll we shall have is as much as the Devill (God blesse us) got when he shore a hog. 1827Scott Jrnl. 24 Feb., It was much cry and little woo', as the deil said when he shore the sow.
absol.c1481Caxton Dialogues 32/14 He oweth to shere. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms (1890) 53 As long as we shore clean..the overseer didn't trouble his head much about our doings.
†b. Phr. to shear against the wool (fig.): ? to treat roughly. Obs.
1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 30 What should your face thus agayne the woll be shorne? c1550Song, ‘Back & Side’ in Skelton's Wks. (1843) I. p. vii, I shall looke lyke one by swete sainte Johnn were shoron agaynste the woole.
c. fig.
1570Satir. Poems Reform. xvi. 87, I wald sum man wald scheir ȝow clene. a1628F. Grevil Sidney (1652) 62 Employing no instruments among the people, but such as devise to sheer them with taxes. 1797J. Lawrence in Monthly Mag. (1818) XLVI. 396 It mattered little to them, whether the flock were led by the nose and sheared by a convocation of bishops, or an assembly of divines.
Proverb.1828Scott F.M. Perth xiii, He who goes forth to seek such wool should come back shorn.
d. To yield (a fleece), to produce by being shorn. † Also absol. or intr. to be shorn (?). Now rare.
1587D. Fenner Song of Songs iv. 1 Those same goates which doe vpon The mount of Gilhad sheare. 1852Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. III. 139 An article upon Sheep, describing bucks that shear the big fleeces. 1854Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XV. i. 228 The tegs..shear a fleece varying from 5 to 7 lbs.
e. Austral. and N.Z. To own or keep (sheep).
1930L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. ii. 35 The homestead..belongs to J. E. Scott who still shears about 3000 sheep there. 1965J. S. Gunn Terminol. Shearing Industry ii. 18 Shear,..this word is..used by woolgrowers to indicate the size of their flocks, for example, ‘I shear about 5000’.
6. To cut off (the superfluous nap of woollen cloth) in the process of manufacture; also, in hat-making, to remove (nap) by singeing or scouring.
c1340Nominale (Skeat) 388 Homme drap retounde M. scleruth [read scheruth] clothe. 1442Eton Coll. Acc. in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 382 Robert Falowefeld for the shering of the seid ix yerdes of Ray. 1510in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 394 The said cotteners shall shore a dosen for eight pence of brod cloth. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 24 The Clothier also to sheare it very lowe. 1662Comenius' Janua Ling. Triling. 95 From hence they [sc. the cloths]..are delivered to the shearer into the shop, who sheareth them being spread upon a table with shears. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Cloth, The Cloth..is returned to the Sheerman, who sheers it a second time. Ibid., s.v. Sheering, Some use the phrase Sheering of Hats, for the passing of Hats made of Wooll, over the Flame of a clear Fire..to take off the long Hairs. 1844G. Dodd Textile Manuf. iii. 105 The nap of the cloth..is ‘cut’, or ‘cropped’, or ‘sheared’. 1875Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) III. 369 For fine printing, it is by some considered needful to shear the nap of the cloth instead of singeing it.
absol.1474Caxton Chesse iii. iii. (1883) 93 Hit appertayneth to them to cutte cloth shere dighte and dye. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) I. v. 91 Enjoin upon him..To most exactly measure, sew and shear.
7. a. To cut down, to reap (grass, crops, etc.) with a sickle († formerly also, with a scythe). Now dial.
In north midland dialects to shear is to cut with a sickle or hook, while to mow means to cut with a scythe. In Scotland also to shear implies the use of a sickle or hook; for reaping with a scythe the general term cut is used.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 1919 His handful stod riȝt up soren. a1300Cursor M. 4057 Him thoght his fader þaier corn schare. 1390Gower Conf. II. 261 Manye [herbs] with a knyf sche scherth. c1440Alphabet of Tales 118 When he had shorn it [the corn]. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §26 In the later ende of July..is tyme to shere Rye... And in somme places they mowe it. 1594Kyd Cornelia iv. i. 9 Lyke cocks of Hay when Iuly sheares the field. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. xvi. 48 Where now the sharp-edg'd sithe sheeres vp the spyring grasse. 1745C. J. Hamilton in Academy 18 Nov. (1893) 440/3 Y⊇ french Put grape shot into their cannon and cut them down just as if they were sheering corn. 1764Museum Rust. I. 440 note, In the north of England they call reaping wheat shearing it.
fig.1563Winȝet Bk. Quest. To Rdr., Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 59 We mot also scheir the fruit of the doctrine of quheit.
b. absol. or intr. To cut standing crops; to use a sickle.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 2347 Two ȝer ben nu ðat derke [read derðe] is cumen, Ȝet sulen .v. fulle ben numen, ðat men ne sulen sowen ne sheren. a1340Hampole Psalter cxxviii. 6 Of þe whilk he shal not fille his hand þat shal shere. c1400Rule of St. Benet (Verse) 1853 Vnto þe tyme of euynsang, To scher or bind. c1520Nisbet N.T. Matt. xxv. 26 Wist thou that I schere [Wycl. repe] quhare I sew nocht. a1568Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 260 Husbandis to saw and scheir. 1616Surflet & Markham Country Farm v. xiv. 545 In other countries they vse to sheare after the Sunne is risen. 1789Burns (title of song) Robin shure in hairst. 1883Longman's Mag. Apr. 647 Some years ago cottagers here and there had to ‘shear’ for their cottage, i.e. to work during harvest time in exchange for a free cottage.
fig.1552Lyndesay Monarche 5873 Ȝour polit payntit flatterye, Ȝour dissimulat Ypocrasye, That day thay sall be cleirlye knawin, Quhen ȝe sall scheir as ȝe haue sawin.
c. transf. (trans.) To nibble close.
1609Bible (Douay) Dan. iv. 13 Annot., He..did eate grasse as an oxe, putting his mouth to the ground, to shere and swalowe it. 1615Wither Sheph. Hunt. v. H 1, Our sheepe the short sweet grasse do shear. 1658Rowland tr. Moufet's Theat. Ins. 986 This not only tasts of corn or shears it, but breaks and grinds stalk and all.
d. To clip, cut, or trim (a tree or bush, a lawn); † to cut off (a branch).
a1300Cursor M. 11713 Iesus..said, ‘þou palme, i comand þe Þat o þi branches an be scorn’. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. i. (Tollemache MS.), Tren and herbes of gardenes schulde be wilde, but þey beþ kepte parid and schurde. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 73 Let lop be shorne that hindreth corne. 1693Evelyn De La Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 165 We shear our Palisade's the second time. 1802W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. I. 450 A sort of yew⁓hedge, tangled with luxuriance and sheared into spruceness. 1863Hawthorne Our Old Home, Lond. Suburb, The garden..had been levelled, carefully shorn, and converted into a bowling-green.
8. a. To cleave, divide, said esp. of ships, birds, etc.
a1340Hampole Psalter xxviii. 7 Þe voice of lord sherand þe flaume of fire. 1513Douglas æneis v. i. 5 His navy with north wind scherand the seyis. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 5 Her shallow ship away did slide, More swift, then swallow sheres the liquid skie. 1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 286 Ingots, for to be deliuered to the moneyers to sheire the same by weight into small peeces. 1706J. Philips Cerealia 27 Fame to high Olympus flew, Shearing th'expanse of heaven with active plume. 1864Tennyson Voyage ii, The Lady's-head upon the prow Caught the shrill salt, and sheer'd the gale. 1885–94R. Bridges Eros & Psyche Mar. xxix, Like a plough that shears the heavy land.
b. intr. for refl. where (or as) wind and weather (or water) shears: on the ridge of a hill, on the highest ground.
1556Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 245/2 Keipand the heid of the Innerhill in propirtie, quhill it cum to the meting of the tua gaittis as wynd and wodder scheris. 1601Ibid. 395/2 Ascendand up to the hill or month heidis thairof as wind and wedder scheirris. 1815Scott Guy M. xxxvi, On the tap o' the hill where the wind and water shears.
9. Physics (also Mech., Geol., etc.). To subject to a shearing stress; to distort or fracture by shear.
1850E. Clark Britannia & Conway Bridges I. 389 Examples of this kind of strain occur in the rivet which unites the two blades of a pair of scissors, or the rivet on which the blade rotates in an ordinary pocket-knife. In the former..the evident tendency of the strain is to shear the rivet in one place only, and this is called a single shear; but in the knife the rivet must be sheared in two places before the blade can escape. Ibid. II. 517 It is evident that immediate strain from the weight of the structure, close to the piers on which it is supported, will tend to shear off the end of the tube in a vertical line. 1881O. Fisher Physics Earth's Crust x. 120 Yet we may arrive at some conclusion as to whether the material at any given level within the crust will on the average be sheared upwards or downwards by the compression. 1883Lodge in Nature XXVII. 328 The ether may be sheared by electromotive forces into positive and negative electricity. 1911Encycl. Brit. XVI. 669/2 (Lighting) The filament after a time breaks up into sections which become curiously sheared with respect to each other.
▪ V. shear
see sheer.
▪ VI. shear
obs. f. sere a.2, several.
15..Chevy Chase 12 (Ashm. MS.) Then the wyld thorowethe woodes went on euery syde shear. Ibid. 16 On sydis shear.
▪ VII. shear
erron. f. sear, variant of cere v.
1688Holme Armoury iv. xii. (Roxb.) 496/1 First after his departure his body was well sheared and chested, then wrapped in Lead. |