v. t. To dishearten. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Disheartened p. pr. & vb. n. Disheartening. ] [ Pref. dis- + hearten. ] To discourage; to deprive of courage and hope; to depress the spirits of; to deject. [ 1913 Webster ]

Regiments . . . utterly disorganized and disheartened. Macaulay.

Syn. -- To dispirit; discourage; depress; deject; deter; terrify. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. made less hopeful or enthusiastic; as, their lack of interest disheartened the instructor. [ Narrower terms: pessimistic (vs. optimistic) ]
Syn. -- demoralized, discouraged. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. Causing loss of hope or enthusiasm.
Syn. -- demoralizing, demoralising, dispiriting. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. Discouragement; dejection; depression of spirits. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (Zool.), A small black-and-white oceanic bird (Puffinus puffinus, or Puffinus anglorum), common in the Eastern North Atlantic. Called also Manx petrel, Manx puffin. It is avariety of shearwater. It was formerly abundant in the Isle of Man. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. To hear incorrectly. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. Sheared r 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&unr_;re, Gr. &unr_;&unr_;&unr_;. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ It is especially applied to the cutting of wool from sheep or their skins, and the nap from cloth. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Before the golden tresses . . . were shorn away. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To reap, as grain. [ Scot. ] Jamieson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Fig.: To deprive of property; to fleece. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Mech.) To produce a change of shape in by a shear. See Shear, n., 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

On his head came razor none, nor shear. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Short of the wool, and naked from the shear. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A shearing; -- used in designating the age of sheep. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To deviate. See Sheer. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The black skimmer. See Skimmer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Shard. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who shears. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like a lamb dumb before his shearer. Acts viii. 32. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A reaper. [ Scot. ] Jamieson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act or operation of clipping with shears or a shearing machine, as the wool from sheep, or the nap from cloth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The product of the act or operation of clipping with shears or a shearing machine; as, the whole shearing of a flock; the shearings from cloth. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Same as Shearling. Youatt. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The act or operation of reaping. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The act or operation of dividing with shears; as, the shearing of metal plates. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. The process of preparing shear steel; tilting. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Mining) The process of making a vertical side cutting in working into a face of coal. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shearing machine. (a) A machine with blades, or rotary disks, for dividing plates or bars of metal. (b) A machine for shearing cloth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A sheep but once sheared. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Shearmen One whose occupation is to shear cloth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. scearn. Cf. Scarn. ] Dung; excrement. [ Obs. ] [ Written also shern. ] Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ Formerly used also in the singular. See Shear, n., 1. ] 1. A cutting instrument. Specifically: (a) An instrument consisting of two blades, commonly with bevel edges, connected by a pivot, and working on both sides of the material to be cut, -- used for cutting cloth and other substances. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fate urged the shears, and cut the sylph in twain. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) A similar instrument the blades of which are extensions of a curved spring, -- used for shearing sheep or skins. (c) A shearing machine; a blade, or a set of blades, working against a resisting edge. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Anything in the form of shears. Specifically: (a) A pair of wings. [ Obs. ] Spenser. (b) An apparatus for raising heavy weights, and especially for stepping and unstepping the lower masts of ships. It consists of two or more spars or pieces of timber, fastened together near the top, steadied by a guy or guys, and furnished with the necessary tackle. [ Written also sheers. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mach.) The bedpiece of a machine tool, upon which a table or slide rest is secured; as, the shears of a lathe or planer. See Illust. under Lathe. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rotary shears. See under Rotary. [ 1913 Webster ]

. See under Shear. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Zool.) (a) The common tern. (b) Any one of several species of humming birds of the genus Thaumastura having a long forked tail. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Shear + water; cf. G. wassersherer; -- so called from its running lightly along the surface of the water. ] (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of long-winged oceanic birds of the genus Puffinus and related genera. They are allied to the petrels, but are larger. The Manx shearwater (Puffinus Anglorum), the dusky shearwater (Puffinus obscurus), and the greater shearwater (Puffinus major), are well-known species of the North Atlantic. See Hagdon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who shears, or cuts off the wool from, sheep. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Act of shearing sheep. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A feast at the time of sheep-shearing. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]