the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > sheep-farming > sheep-shearing > shear sheep [verb (intransitive)] > manner or technique (3)
Physical senses. transitive and intransitive. Australian and New Zealand. Sheep-shearing. To begin shearing (a fleece or sheep); to shear wool from…
transitive. slang (New Zealand and Australian). to play the piano: to run one's fingers over a sheep's back when shearing (see quot. 1933).
intransitive. (See quot. 1965.) Also transitive, to shear (a sheep, etc.) in this manner. Australian. Sheep-shearing.