4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Shear  \Shear\,  v.  t.  [imp.  {Sheared}or  {Shore};p.  p.  {Sheared} 
  or  {Shorn};  p.  pr  &  vb  n.  {Shearing}.]  [OE.  sheren, 
  scheren  to  shear,  cut,  shave,  AS  sceran,  scieran  scyran 
  akin  to  D.  &  G.  scheren  Icel.  skera,  Dan.  ski?re,  Gr  ???. 
  Cf  {Jeer},  {Score},  {Shard},  {Share},  {Sheer}  to  turn 
  aside.] 
  1.  To  cut,  clip,  or  sever  anything  from  with  shears  or  a  like 
  instrument;  as  to  shear  sheep;  to  shear  cloth. 
 
  Note:  It  is  especially  applied  to  the  cutting  of  wool  from 
  sheep  or  their  skins,  and  the  nap  from  cloth. 
 
  2.  To  separate  or  sever  with  shears  or  a  similar  instrument; 
  to  cut  off  to  clip  something  from  a  surface;  as  to 
  shear  a  fleece. 
 
  Before  the  golden  tresses  .  .  .  were  shorn  away 
  --Shak. 
 
  3.  To  reap,  as  grain.  [Scot.]  --Jamieson. 
 
  4.  Fig.:  To  deprive  of  property;  to  fleece. 
 
  5.  (Mech.)  To  produce  a  change  of  shape  in  by  a  shear.  See 
  {Shear},  n.,  4. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Shear  \Shear\,  n.  [AS.  sceara.  See  {Shear},  v.  t.] 
  1.  A  pair  of  shears;  --  now  always  used  in  the  plural,  but 
  formerly  also  in  the  singular.  See  {Shears}. 
 
  On  his  head  came  razor  none,  nor  shear.  --Chaucer. 
 
  Short  of  the  wool,  and  naked  from  the  shear. 
  --Dryden. 
 
  2.  A  shearing;  --  used  in  designating  the  age  of  sheep. 
 
  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.  --Youatt. 
 
  3.  (Engin.)  An  action  resulting  from  applied  forces,  which 
  tends  to  cause  two  contiguous  parts  of  a  body  to  slide 
  relatively  to  each  other  in  a  direction  parallel  to  their 
  plane  of  contact  --  also  called  {shearing  stress},  and 
  {tangential  stress}. 
 
  4.  (Mech.)  A  strain,  or  change  of  shape,  of  an  elastic  body, 
  consisting  of  an  extension  in  one  direction,  an  equal 
  compression  in  a  perpendicular  direction,  with  an 
  unchanged  magnitude  in  the  third  direction. 
 
  {Shear  blade},  one  of  the  blades  of  shears  or  a  shearing 
  machine. 
 
  {Shear  hulk}.  See  under  {Hulk}. 
 
  {Shear  steel},  a  steel  suitable  for  shears,  scythes,  and 
  other  cutting  instruments,  prepared  from  fagots  of 
  blistered  steel  by  repeated  heating,  rolling,  and  tilting, 
  to  increase  its  malleability  and  fineness  of  texture. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Shear  \Shear\,  v.  i. 
  1.  To  deviate.  See  {Sheer}. 
 
  2.  (Engin.)  To  become  more  or  less  completely  divided,  as  a 
  body  under  the  action  of  forces,  by  the  sliding  of  two 
  contiguous  parts  relatively  to  each  other  in  a  direction 
  parallel  to  their  plane  of  contact 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  shear 
  n  1:  (physics)  a  deformation  of  an  object  in  which  parallel 
  planes  remain  parallel  but  are  shifted  in  a  direction 
  parallel  to  themselves;  "the  shear  changed  the 
  quadrilateral  into  a  parallelogram" 
  2:  a  machine  that  cuts  sheet  metal  by  passing  a  blade  through 
  it 
  v  1:  cut  with  shears,  as  of  hedges 
  2:  shear  the  wool  from  "shear  sheep"  [syn:  {fleece}] 
  3:  cut  or  cut  through  with  shears 

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