shear
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ʃɪə(ɹ)/
ipa: /ʃɪɹ/
note: cheer–chair merger
ipa: /ʃɛə/
rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
homophone: sheer
Forms: form: shears
Etymology: From Middle English sheren, scheren, from Old English sċieran (“to shear; to shave”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeran, from Proto-Germanic *skeraną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”).
Cognate with West Frisian skarre, Low German scheren, Dutch scheren, German scheren, Danish skære, Norwegian Bokmål skjære, Norwegian Nynorsk skjera, Swedish skära, Finnish keritä; and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek κείρω (keírō, “I cut off”), Latin caro (“flesh”), Albanian shqerr (“to tear, cut”), harr (“to cut, to mow”), Lithuanian ski̇̀rti (“separate”), Welsh ysgar (“separate”). See also sharp.
Senses: examples: text: short of their wool, and naked from the shear
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
synonyms: shears
glosses: A cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger.
topics: arts
crafts
engineering
hobbies
lifestyle
metallurgy
metalworking
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A large machine use for cutting sheet metal.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1837, William Youatt, Sheep: Their Breeds, Management, and Diseases:
glosses: The act of shearing, or something removed by shearing.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: Forces that push in opposite directions.
examples: text: The first effect of a wind shear was detected at 34 to 42 seconds into the takeoff, at a speed of about 115 KIAS with the airplane about 3,800 feet down the runway. An average shear rate of about 2.5 knots per second resulted in an interruption in acceleration at this point with the airspeed remaining at 115 to 120 KIAS for 7 to 10 seconds.
ref: 1985 March 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “2.3 Airplane Takeoff Performance”, in Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 663, Boeing 727-222, N7647U, Denver, Colorado, May 31, 1984, page 41:
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
climatology
engineering
meteorology
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: The phenomenon of wind shear.
examples: text: We hit a nasty shear on approach and had to go around.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
climatology
engineering
meteorology
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A specific instance of wind shear.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: A transformation that displaces every point in a direction parallel to some given line by a distance proportional to the point's distance from the line.
topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: The response of a rock to deformation usually by compressive stress, resulting in particular textures.
Derived terms: alligator shear
crocodile shear
Kepler shear
megashear
shear-cake
shear centre
shearer
shear hog
shear legs
shear line
shear modulus
shearography
shearpole
shear steel
shear strength
shear stress
shear-thickening
shear-thinning
shear viscosity
shear wall
shearwater
shear wave
shear zone
throatless shear
wind shear
windshear