shears /shērz/ (engineering)

Same as ways (see under way¹)

shear /shēr/

1. To cut, or clip, esp with shears
2. To strip, fleece (also figurative)
3. To cut superfluous nap from
4. To achieve or make by cutting
5. To tonsure
6. To reap with a sickle (Scot)
7. To subject to a shear (engineering and physics)

1. To separate
2. To cut
3. To penetrate
4. To reap with a sickle (Scot)

1. A shearing or clipping
2. A strain, stress, or deformation in which parallel planes remain parallel, but move parallel to themselves (engineering and physics)

shearˈer noun

1. A person who shears sheep
2. A reaper (Scot)

shearˈing noun

shearˈling noun

1. A sheep that has been shorn for the first time
2. The fleece of such a sheep, usu of inferior quality

shears plural noun

1. Orig scissors (also Scot)
2. Now a larger pair of clippers, or any scissorlike cutting instrument, with a pivot or spring
3. A hoisting apparatus (see sheers under sheer²)

shear force noun

A force that tends to cause sliding of adjacent layers relative to each other, in a material

shearˈ-hog noun

A shearling

shearˈ-hulk, shearˈleg see under sheer²

shearing shed noun (Aust and NZ)

A building in which sheep are shorn, esp one specially equipped with several power-driven shears, shearing platforms and wool-baling machines

shearˈman noun

A textile worker who shears superfluous nap from cloth

shear pin noun

A pin, which, as a safety mechanism, will shear and halt a machine or power-transmission when the correct load or stress is exceeded

shearˈ-steel noun

Steel suitable for making shears, etc

shearˈwater noun

A seabird of the family Procellariidae, related to the petrels, that skims the water when flying low

shear zones plural noun (geology)

Bands in metamorphic rocks consisting of crushed and brecciated material and many parallel fractures

sheer² /shēr/

1. (with off or away) to deviate
2. To take oneself off, esp to evade something disagreeable
3. To swerve

To cause to deviate

1. A deviation
2. An oblique position
3. The fore-and-aft upward curve of a ship's deck or sides

sheers or shears plural noun

An apparatus for hoisting heavy weights, having legs or spars spread apart at their lower ends, and hoisting tackle at their joined tops

sheerˈ-hulk or shearˈ-hulk noun

1. An old dismantled ship with a pair of sheers mounted on it
2. Popularly, a mere hulk, as if from sheer¹

sheerˈleg or shearˈleg noun

1. One of the spars of sheers
2. (in pl) sheers

• weak points
• weak side
• weak sides
• weak-sighted
• weak sister
• weak sisters
• weak-spirited
• weak spot
• weak-willed
• weal
• weal-balanced
• weald
• Wealden
• wealds
• wealk'd
• weals
• wealsman
• wealsmen
• wealth
• wealthier
• wealthiest
• wealthily
• wealthiness
• wealthinesses
• wealths