shear
verb /ʃɪə(r)/
/ʃɪr/
Verb Forms
Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they shear | /ʃɪə(r)/ /ʃɪr/ |
| he / she / it shears | /ʃɪəz/ /ʃɪrz/ |
| past simple sheared | /ʃɪəd/ /ʃɪrd/ |
| past participle shorn | /ʃɔːn/ /ʃɔːrn/ |
| past participle sheared | /ʃɪəd/ /ʃɪrd/ |
| -ing form shearing | /ˈʃɪərɪŋ/ /ˈʃɪrɪŋ/ |
- [transitive] shear something to cut the wool off a sheep
- It was time for the sheep to be shorn.
- sheep shearing
- [transitive] shear something (formal) to cut off somebody’s hair
- shorn hair
- The prisoners’ hair was shorn.
- [intransitive, transitive] shear (something) (off) (specialist) (especially of metal) to break under pressure; to cut through something and make it break
- The bolts holding the wheel in place sheared off.
Word OriginOld English sceran (originally in the sense ‘cut through with a weapon’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German scheren, from a base meaning ‘divide, shear, shave’.