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 ]