shearn.1
/ʃɪə/, U.S. /ʃɪ(ə)r/ 1. Originally (and still Scottish and dialect) = scissors n. In later use commonly applied to scissors of large size, and to other cutting instruments which similarly operate by the simultaneous action of two blades on opposite sides of the material to be cut.The various kinds of shears fall into two principal classes: those which are worked in the manner of scissors, and those in which (as in ordinary sheep-shears) the bringing together of the blades is effected by pressure on their stems between the blades and the arched spring by which the stems are connected. Shears of the latter class have now sometimes three or more blades instead of two.Often with defining word indicating the purpose for which the instrument is intended or some peculiarity of its construction, as bar-shears, clipping shears, etc.; see under the first element; also sheep-shears n.† e. In proverbial use. there goes but a pair of shears between them, they match each other as if cut from the same cloth; they are ‘of a piece’ (very common in 16–17th centuries). chalk is not shears (Scottish), chalking the cloth is not cutting it. Obsolete.
a.
(a) in plural form, with plural construction, either in singular or plural sense. When qualification by a numeral or an indefinite article is required, pair of shears is used.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > shears or scissors > [noun]
shearc725
abscissor?a1425
scissors?a1425
scissorsa1425
forcets1474
snippers1593
forfex1712
snipe1819
clipper1876
c725 Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) F. 263 Forfices, scerero.
c725 Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) F. 279 Forfex, isern, sceruru.
c897 K. Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care xviii. 138 Ðætte ða sacerdas ne sceoldon no hiera heafdu scieran mid scearseaxum..ac hie sceoldon hie efsian mid scearum.
c1050 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 399/19 Forficis, sceara.
a1100 Gerefa in Anglia (1886) 9 263 He sceal..habban..horscamb and sceara.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 7094 Whætte his sæxes alse he schæren wolde.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 857 He tok þe sh [e] res of þe nayl And made him a couel of þe sayl.
c1386 G. Chaucer Wife of Bath's Prol. 722 How Sampson loste his heres, Slepynge, his lemman kitte it with hir sheres.
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis II. 318 And out he clippeth also faste Hire tunge with a peire scheres.
1473 in R. Arnold Chron. (c1503) f. xxvijv/1 It is..enacted, that noo wullen cloth..be shorne..but yf it be fully wet opon peine of forfetur of the said cloth... The sherar therof shal lese his shereis and pay xx. s' for euery pece cloth.
1527 in F. Collins Wills & Admin. Knaresborough Court Rolls (1902) I. 21 Oon pair of sheris and iiij shepe.
1574 in A. Feuillerat Documents Office of Revels Queen Elizabeth (1908) 246 Grynding of Sheeres to clypp the Assedue.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. x. sig. Nn6 The sheares also were at hand to behead the silke.
1628 P. Fletcher Brittain's Ida i. ii. sig. Bv His Nimph-like face ne're felt the nimble sheeres.
1686 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Staffs. ix. 380 Admitting of formation by the Gardiners sheers.
1786 R. Burns Poems 64 So may they [sc. sheep], like their great forbears, For monie a year come thro' the sheers.
1855 ‘E. S. Delamer’ Kitchen Garden 17 A pair of shears, for clipping box-edging and quickset hedges.
1902 P. Marshall Metal Working Tools 44 For cutting thin sheet metal and wire, a pair of hand-shears.
(b) In tavern signs.
ΚΠ
1600 A. Munday et al. First Pt. True Hist. Sir I. Old-castle sig. Iv Yonder at the sheeres.
1826 Hone's Every-day Bk. I. ii. 1230 The ‘Hand and Shears’, a public house [in Cloth-fair].
b. in singular form, = a pair of shears. Now rare.
ΚΠ
a1300 Cursor Mundi l. 7240 Quils sampson slepped, sco laght a schere, His hare sco kerf.
c1386 G. Chaucer Monk's Tale 66 Ne on his heed com rasour noon ne schere.
1455 in Anstey Munim. Acad. (Rolls) II. 664 j. shere to snoffe candels.
a1568 Bannatyne MS (Hunterian Club) 396 Thow yeid with elwand, scheir and thymmill, Full mony a day seikand thy craft.
1643 Orkney Witch Trial in Misc. Abbotsf. Club (1837) I. 184 Laid ane woll scheir on the coggis mouth.
1661 W. Petty Making Cloth 27 Nov. in T. Birch Hist. Royal Soc. (1756) I. 64 Then the sheer works rank, that is, takes off a deep flock.
1661 W. Petty Making Cloth 27 Nov. in T. Birch Hist. Royal Soc. (1756) I. 64 So few men can set and grind a sheer exactly.
c. in plural form construed as singular.
ΚΠ
a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Richard II cclxvii, in Poems (1878) III. 203 One Shears must cutt them both.
1842 J. C. Loudon Suburban Horticulturist 141 A shears fixed at the extremity of a long handle, and which clips and holds fast at the same time.
d. As used for purposes of divination. Commonly sieve and shears.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination by specific objects > [noun] > sieve > sieve so used
sieve and shears1549
1549 in J. G. Nichols Narr. Reformation (1859) 334 Sir Robert Brian..conjureth with a syve and a pair of sheeres.
1570 in J. Raine Depositions Courts Durham (1845) 117 I, Allice Swan,..used by the space of certen yeres to cast or tourne the riddle and sheares.
1602 in Goudie Diary J. Mill 185 To quite hir selff..for the turning of ane siff and riddill for ane pair scheiris.
a1635 T. Randolph Jealous Lovers i. x A man cannot find out their Meaning without the ‘Sieve and Sheers’.
1692 E. Walker tr. Epictetus Enchiridion xxxviii Questions which by Sieve and Sheers are try'd.
1843 E. Bulwer-Lytton Last of Barons I. i. v. 97 Thinkest thou..I can read thee all riddles without my sieve and my shears?
ΚΠ
1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 8 The Sympathia of affections and as it were but a payre of sheeres to goe betweene theire natures.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) i. ii. 27 There went but a paire of sheeres betweene vs. View more context for this quotation
1632 in S. R. Gardiner Rep. Cases Star Chamber & High Comm. (1886) 98 There went but a paire of sheeres between a Papist and a Protestant, and not a pinne to choose of what religion a man is.
1643 in W. Macgill Old Ross-shire & Scotl. (1909) I. 314 I feir me they sall be long in concluding, as we say in the comon proverbe ‘Calke is no sheyres’.
f. figurative, esp. as attributed to the Fates.
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the mind > will > necessity > fate or destiny as determining events > [noun] > the (three) Fates > equipment used by
spindle1577
shear1600
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream v. i. 336 O sisters three, come, come, to mee, With hands as pale as milke, Lay them in gore, since you haue shore With sheeres, his threede of silke. View more context for this quotation
1638 J. Milton Lycidas in Obsequies 22 in Justa Edouardo King Comes the blind Furie with th'abhorred shears, And slits the thin-spun life.
1795 R. Southey Vision Maid of Orleans i. 309 Observe how soon..they change Their snowy hue,..Till Atropos relentless shuts the sheers.
1886 Campbell-Bannerman Speech 13 May in Parl. Deb. 3rd Ser. 305 939 The shears of destiny in the hands of Mr. Jesse Collings were ready.
g. Mechanics. In modern use, applied to various machines for cutting metals, more or less analogous to shears in manner of operation.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > metalworking equipment > [noun] > cutting equipment > machines
slitting-mill?1677
slit-mill1776
shear1845
nail cutter1851
plate shears1861
bar-cutter1874
paper cutter1880
guillotine1881
croppera1884
guillotine shears1884
nibbler1939
1845 P. Barlow Manuf. in Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 615/2 Cut up into narrow slips..by means of a pair of circular shears.
1869 W. J. M. Rankine Cycl. Machine & Hand-tools Pl.K 1 These shears are so arranged that the long plates can be cut in two or more divisions.
1869 W. J. M. Rankine Cycl. Machine & Hand-tools Pl.K 6 Fig. 2 is an end view of carriage, showing side views of punch and shear, and front view of drill.
h. Cloth-making. The cutting apparatus of a cloth cropping machine composed of a series of spiral blades on a revolving cylinder which cut against a ledger blade; also each of these blades.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > treating or processing textile fabric > [noun] > shearing > machine > part of
shear1839
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 1323 This wire..being hardened is intended to constitute one edge of the shear or cutter.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 1326 A straight blade of steel..forms the leger blade, or lower fixed edge of the shears.
1846 C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manip. II. 913 Revolving shears or ‘perpetual shears’ are used for shearing off the loose fibres from the face of woollen cloths.
i. One of the blades of a pair of shears.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > shears or scissors > [noun] > parts of
shear1794
shank1833
twitter-bit1851
1794 G. Adams Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. III. xxxi. 270 The upper shear is rivetted to a couple of strong standards.
1884 Cassell's Techn. Educator II. 19/1 Immediately after the cut of the shear commences the iron must be divided completely across.
j. off (the) shears: of sheep, just shorn. Australian and New Zealand.
ΚΠ
1888 J. Bradshaw N.Z. of Today vi. 110 The hoggett..in 1882 could be readily sold ‘off the shears’ at twelve shillings.
1896 T. W. Heney Girl at Birrell's 69 Now and again a buyer visited the stations to get cheap sheep ‘off shears’.
1930 L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. viii. 216 He drove them over Porter's Pass off the shears.
1964 T. Ronan Packhorse & Pearling Boat 147 The sheep had arrived off-shears.
2. Misused for: (a) a knife; (b) a scythe.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > knife > [noun]
saxa800
knifea1100
trencherc1330
coultera1382
shear1382
thwittlec1405
prag1481
cuttle1551
chiv1673
machine knife1867
mackerel plougha1884
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > harvesting equipment > [noun] > reaping tools > scythe
scythec725
lea1483
sheathea1660
peck1784
scythe-hook1844
shear1887
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) 3 Kings xviii. 28 Thei cuttiden hem self..with sheeris and litil launcis [L. cultris et lanceolis].
1887 B. J. L. Adams Song of Jubilee 58 We could hear The whetstone grate upon the mower's shear.
a. ? The clavicles.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > collarbone > [noun]
cannel-bonea1325
collara1475
shears1503
furcule?1541
channel-bone1587
clavicle1615
collarbone1615
patel1615
cane1621
jugulum1706
cannon bone1730
key-bone1791
1503 tr. Kalendayr Shyppars sig. hi Neyr the nek ettwys the heyd & the shulders are two boonys namyt sheerys.
b. = shear-battle n. at Compounds 2 (see Compounds 2).
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society > armed hostility > military operations > distribution of troops > formation > [noun] > other formations
herse1523
shears1562
snail1579
rendy1581
saw battle1598
shear-battle1598
file1616
horn battle1635
sconce-battle1635
potence1760
echelon1796
marching order1819
harrow1876
zariba1887
1562 P. Whitehorne Certain Waies Orderyng Souldiers f. 7v, in tr. N. Machiavelli Arte of Warre The Sheeres are made with twoo Triangels ioyned togethers for to receiue betwen them the said battell.
c. A pair of wings.
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the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > mythical creature or object > [noun] > wing(s) of
wingc1175
shears1590
winglet1611
wicker wingsa1637
pennon1667
van1667
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. viii. sig. T3v Two sharpe winged sheares, Decked with diuerse plumes, like painted Iayes, Were fixed at his backe, to cut his ayery wayes.
d. The pincer-like claws of a crustacean. Obsolete.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > member of > parts of > pincer-like claws
shears1682
nipper1696
pincher1717
pincer1796
1682 G. Hartman Digby's Choice Coll. Rare Secrets ii. 195 The black ends of the shares of Crabs.
1713 W. Derham Physico-theol. iv. xiii. 234 Two toothy Cheeks, somewhat like the Sheers of Lobsters.
4. plural. (Often construed as singular.) A device used upon ships, and in dockyards and mines, for raising and fixing masts, boilers and other heavy gear, consisting of two (or sometimes more) poles steadied (in a sloping position) by guys and fastened together at the top, from which the hoisting tackle depends, and with their lower ends separated as a base and secured to the deck or platform. Often spelt sheers. [Compare German scherenkran.]
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society > occupation and work > equipment > lifting or hoisting equipment > [noun] > shear-legs or gin
gin1398
lading gin1497
raising gin1497
shearsa1625
Jack1686
triangle1691
crab1739
shear-legs1860
a1625 H. Mainwaring Nomenclator Navalis (Harl. 2301) Sheeres.
1739 C. Labelye Short Acct. Piers Westm.-Bridge 36 The Sheers and the Crab made use of in lifting the Stone.
1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple III. ix. 120 Then the shears were seen forward.
1859 F. A. Griffiths Artillerist's Man. (1862) 130 The legs or spars for sheers.
1860 Eng. & Foreign Mining Gloss. (new ed.) (Cornwall Terms) 22 Shears..for the convenience of lifting out or lowering into the shaft, timber, or other things of great length.
1907 J. H. Patterson Man-eaters of Tsavo x. 107 I..improvised a shears made of a couple of thirty-foot rails.
5. plural. A collector's name for any of several moths of the genus Hadena (Schrank), esp. H. plebeia; also H. glauca, the glaucous shears, H. leucostigma, the white-spot shears, H. ochracea, the tawny shears.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Noctuidae > genus Hadena (shears)
shears1832
1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 67.
1869 E. Newman Illustr. Nat. Hist. Brit. Moths 415.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.
shear-blade n.
ΚΠ
1812 Weekly Reg. (Baltimore) 25 Jan. 390/1 The subscriber at short notice can furnish clothier's shear blades.
1869 W. J. M. Rankine Cycl. Machine & Hand-tools Pl.K 1 With shear blades long enough to shear a plate at one cut.
shear-derrick n. (sense 4.)
ΚΠ
1838 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 1 268/1 For the purpose of hoisting the stone to the shear dericks at the top.
shear-handle n.
ΚΠ
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 348/1 He beareth Azure, a pair of Clothiers Shears, Argent; and the Shear handle Or.
shear-lever n.
ΚΠ
1869 W. J. M. Rankine Cycl. Machine & Hand-tools Pl.K 8 The shear lever.
shear-machine n.
ΚΠ
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 720 Two pairs of shear-machines.
shear-mark n.
ΚΠ
1934 D. Thomas Let. 25 Apr. in Sel. Lett. (1966) 111 There were no shear-marks visible in my last letter for the reason that I had cut out nothing.
shear-pole n.
ΚΠ
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxxv. 444 We were obliged to go aloft upon the ropes and shearpoles.
shear rivet n.
ΚΠ
1859 F. S. Cooper Ironmongers' Catal. 63 With Shear Rivets.
shear slide n.
ΚΠ
1869 W. J. M. Rankine Cycl. Machine & Hand-tools Pl.K 6 Shear slide.
shear-smith n.
ΚΠ
1623–4 Act 21 Jas. I c. 31 §6 The Occupacion of a Cutler Scissorsmith Shearsmith or Sicklesmith within..Hallamshire.
1681 in A. Pennecuik Hist. Blue Blanket (1722) 16 Shear-Smiths.
b. Objective.
shear-grinder n.
ΚΠ
1688 in W. R. Scott Rec. Sc. Cloth Manufactory New Mills (1905) 178 John Gray shear-grinder.
shear-grinding adj.
ΚΠ
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Shear-grinding Machine.
shear-maker n.
ΚΠ
1797 J. Robinson Directory of Sheffield 172 Shear Makers.
c. Similative.
shear-shaped adj.
ΚΠ
1875 C. C. Blake Zoology 297 The shearshaped palps are twice as long as the body.
C2. Special combinations.† shear-battle n. Military Obsolete a tactical arrangement of forces into two wedge-shaped formations acting in parallel directions toward the same objective.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military operations > distribution of troops > formation > [noun] > other formations
herse1523
shears1562
snail1579
rendy1581
saw battle1598
shear-battle1598
file1616
horn battle1635
sconce-battle1635
potence1760
echelon1796
marching order1819
harrow1876
zariba1887
1598 R. Barret Theorike & Pract. Mod. Warres iii. 80 Loe here the Sheere battell framed of 4 battallions.
shear-bill n. [translating French bec-en-ciseaux (Buffon)] the Scissor-bill.
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the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > [noun] > member of genus Rhynchops > rhynchops nigra (black skimmer)
cutwater1733
razorbill1791
shear-bill1793
shearwater1794
scissor beak1833
scissorbill1833
1793 J. Leslie tr. Comte de Buffon Nat. Hist. Birds VIII. 412 The Shearbill.
shear board n. a padded board over which the cloth was stretched for cropping with hand-shears; also attributive.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > treating or processing textile fabric > [noun] > shearing > other equipment
shear board1562
1562 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 156 In the shoppe, shears, shearborde, and wyrkingere, xjs.
1562 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 153 Shearborde handills.
1733 P. Lindsay Interest Scotl. 110 The cutting on the Shear-board.
1880 F. Peel Risings of Luddites 9 While the pair of cropping shears were working across the length of the two pieces fixed and prepared on the shear boards.
shear-crane n. (cf. G. scherenkran).
ΚΠ
1824 R. Stevenson Bell Rock Lighthouse (1931) 89 13th August [1809]. All hands were employed at low-water to-day in refitting the sheer-crane at the eastern landing-place.
shear-frame n. (see quot.).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > shears or scissors > [noun] > device for working two pairs
shear-frame1880
1880 F. Peel Risings of Luddites 9 The shear-frame was one by means of which the two hand-shears could be worked at one and the same time instead of one by the hand cropper.
shear mark n. a mark upon a hide or fleece made when clipping an animal; also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > animal keeping practices general > [noun] > branding or marking > shear mark
shear marka1586
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. xxvii. sig. Ff5v [They returned home] most of them with share-marks of their folly.
1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm III. 866 The shear-marks are seen to run in parallel bands round the carcass.
1892 Berwick Advertiser 16 Sept. 1/6 A Red and White Stirk; one shear mark on near hind quarter.
shear-marked adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > animal keeping practices general > [adjective] > branded or marked > shear-marked
clipped1680
clip-marked1683
shear-marked1696
1696 London Gaz. No. 3245/4 A Chesnut Mare about 13 hands high,..shear marked on the top of the Buttock E.B.
shear-mast n. (see quot.).
ΚΠ
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Sheer-mast, the peculiar rig of the rafts on the Guayaquil river..having a pair of sheers (instead of a single mast) within which the fore-and-aft mainsail works.
shear-tail n. (a) dialect a name for the Common Tern ( Sterna fluviatilis); (b) a Peruvian bird ( Thaumastura cora).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Laridae (gulls and terns) > [noun] > member of genus Sterna (tern) > sterna hirundo (common tern)
scray1668
spur1676
kirmew1694
pictarne1710
pirr maw1744
tarrock1774
pictarnie1784
medrick1832
shear-tail1885
the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Apodiformes > [noun] > family Trochilidae (humming-bird) > unspecified and miscellaneous types of
zumbador1758
sunbeam1769
black warrior1831
hermit-bird1837
Anna's hummingbird1839
jacobin1843
straight-tail1843
vervain hummingbird1847
wedge-bill1848
fiery topaz1854
sungem1856
wood-star1859
calliope1861
rainbow1861
sabre-wing1861
sawbill1861
swallowtail1861
sword-bill1861
thorn-bill1861
visor-bearer1861
warrior1861
wood-nymph1861
puffleg1869
calliope hummingbird1872
flame-bearer1882
shear-tail1885
plature1890
rainbow starfrontlet1966
1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 203 Shear tail.
1899 Cambr. Nat. Hist. IX. vi. 438 The ‘Peruvian Shear-tail’ is golden-green, with crimson throat shading into blue, and white under surface.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
shearn.2
/ʃɪə/, U.S. /ʃɪ(ə)r/ I. Action or result of shearing. Now chiefly dialect.
1.
a. A mowing of grass or corn, a crop.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > [noun] > cutting, reaping, or mowing > amount cut or mowed
math1585
reaping1693
shear1794
1794 Har'st Rig vi. 6 And ay they tell, That, ‘a green shear Is an ill shake’.
1808 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Devon viii. 224 Let the shear or swarth be what it may, the average price of mowing is stated..at 2s. 4d. per acre.
1882 Cornish Telegraph 29 June 5 The shear of hay will be a splendid one.
b. A shearing (of wool), a fleece.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > fleece > [noun]
fleecea1000
shear1801
1801 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. 12 579 By subdividing multifariously the sorts of wool to which the growers are to attend, the number of competitors in each line of shear will become very small.
c. transferred. A shorn animal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > covering or skin > [noun] > coat > hair, wool, or fur > shorn animal
shear1659
1659 Rec. Baron Court Stitchill (S.H.S.) 16 Ilke sheir without a hird 4d. for ilke fault.
d. Used in stating the age of sheep with reference to the number of times the fleece has been shorn. one shear, two shear: one, two years old. Also attributive as two-shear ram.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > genus Ovus > [noun] > Ovus Aries (domestic sheep) > defined by age
hog1306
ewe-hog1531
tup-hog1591
one shear1614
1614 G. Markham Cheape & Good Husbandry iii. xxx. 80 If you will know the age of your Sheepe, looke in his mouth, and when hee is one sheare hee will haue two broad teeth afore.
1790 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Midland Counties I. 398 I have seen wedders, of only two shear (two to three years old) so loaded with fat, as [etc.].
1790 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Midland Counties I. 399 A loin of mutton of a sheep (ten shear) of twentysix pounds a quarter, weighed, [etc.].
1799 A. Young Gen. View Agric. County Lincoln 309 He has some shearling tups, and two shear that are good.
1911 Midl. Counties Herald 29 June 4/2 Two shear ram.
2. The action of shearing or cutting. Scottish.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > cutting > [noun]
bita1000
kerfc1000
slittingc1175
carving?c1225
chop1362
cuttinga1398
hacking1398
scissure?a1425
garsingc1440
racing?a1450
incision1474
secting1507
raze1530
chopping1548
scotching1551
hackling1564
slashing1596
carbonadoing1599
kinsing1599
insection1653
secation1656
scission1676
gash1694
inciding1694
haggling1761
cut1808
shear1809
carve1888
17.. Jacobite Song, Wee German Lairdie iv And we've the trenching blades o' weir, Wad..pass ye 'neath the claymore's sheer, Thou feckless German lairdie!
1809 T. Donaldson Poems 58 I know not but I may come back: To..help to gie your corn a shear.
3. A cut edge.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > edge, border, or margin > [noun] > a cut edge
shear1844
1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm III. 1038 Moss-sods..laid perfectly close, the shear of each fitted to the other.
4. A division, parting. (Cf. shear v. 8b.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > inclination > divergence > [noun] > place where divergence occurs
twisel931
partingc1425
divarication1691
bifurcation1766
furcation1863
shear1876
1876 W. F. Skene Celtic Scotl. Introd. I. 10 The great wind and water shear which separates the eastern from the western districts.
II. In scientific uses.
5.
a. Physics and Mechanics (a) A kind of strain consisting in a movement of planes of a body that are parallel to a particular plane in a direction parallel to a line in that plane through distances proportional to their distances from that plane. (b) The stress called into play in a body which undergoes this kind of strain.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > other specific types of stress
shear1850
shear strain1856
bending stress1858
proof strain1858
proof stress1862
shearing stress1869
shear stress1872
water stress1895
slip1900
fibre stress1905
hoop stress1909
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > alteration of form or dimensions caused by stress > sheet
shear1850
shearing1850
shearing strain1850
1850 E. Clark Britannia & Conway Bridges I. 389 Examples of this kind of strain occur in the rivet which unites the two blades of a pair of scissors, or the rivet on which the blade rotates in an ordinary pocket-knife. In the former..the evident tendency of the strain is to shear the rivet in one place only, and this is called a single shear; but in the knife the rivet must be sheared in two places before the blade can escape.
1858 W. J. M. Rankine Man. Appl. Mech. §103. 87 Planes of Equal Shear, or Tangential Stress.
1867 W. Thomson & P. G. Tait Treat. Nat. Philos. I. §171 This kind of strain is called a simple shear.
1869 H. Moseley in Lond. etc. Philos. Jrnl. XXXVII. 230 The unit of shear being the pressure in lbs. necessary to overcome the resistance to shearing of one square inch.
1883 O. J. Lodge in Nature 1 Feb. 328/2 The bound ether inside a conductor has no rigidity; it cannot resist shear.
1885 Glazebrook & Shaw Pract. Physics 139 The body is said to undergo a simple shear.
1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. at Shear A bar is said to be in shear when it is subject to shearing stress.
1894 Todhunter & Pearson Hist. Th. Elasticity II. ii. 386 The authors [Thomson & Tait] term it a simple shear. This is unfortunate, for that word was introduced by George Stephenson to denote the transverse stress in rivets, and has been consistently used in this sense of stress by Rankine and the majority of engineers since. Its present confused use partly for stress and partly for strain has been avoided in our own work by the introduction of the term slide for shearing strain.
1906 A. E. H. Love Treat. Math. Theory Elasticity (ed. 2) 532 The word ‘shear’ has been used in the sense attached to it in the text by Kelvin and Tait. Rankine proposed to use it for what has been called ‘tangential traction’.
b. Geometry. The transformation produced in a plane figure by motion in which all the points of the figure describe paths parallel to a fixed axis and proportional in length to their distance from it. (See quot. 1885.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > shape or figure > [noun] > action upon
section1704
shear1885
1885 O. Henrici Projection in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 797/2 Such a transformation of a plane figure is produced by a shearing stress in any section of a homogeneous elastic solid. For this reason Sir William Thomson has given it the name of shear.
6. Geology. Applied to the operation of transverse compression on a mass of rock, resulting in alteration of structure or breach of continuity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > formation of features > tectonization or diastrophism > [noun] > deformation under stress
shear1888
flow1889
thrust-movement1890
crush1893
creep1900
thrust1903
underthrusting1908
1888 [see shear plane n. at Compounds 2].
1889 O. Fisher Physics Earth's Crust (ed. 2) xx. 268 The same amount of shear, which at one locality produces crumpling, may in another..produce schistosity.
1911 [see shear-zone n. at Compounds 2]. Compounds
C1. (In sense I.)
a. General attributive.
shear-day n.
ΚΠ
1565 in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1581, 58/1 4 lie scheir-day-wrokis.
a1722 E. Lisle Observ. Husbandry (1757) 319 Barn-room enough to house my sheep the evening before shear-day.
shear-time n.
ΚΠ
a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1909) III. 658 The next Shear tyme.
1811 T. Davis Gen. View Agric. Wilts. (new ed.) 260 Wether hogs, chilver hogs, from thence [sc. about Christmas] till shear-time.
b. † shear-mill n. Obsolete ? = shear-shop n.† shear-shop n. Obsolete a place in which the manufacture of cloth is conducted.† shear-wool n. Obsolete (see quot. 1585).
shear-boom n. Logging (see quot.).
ΚΠ
1905 Terms Forestry & Logging (Bull. U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau Forestry, No. 61) 46 Shear boom, a boom so secured that it guides floating logs in the desired direction.
shear-darg n. Scottish a day's work at reaping or shearing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > sheep-farming > sheep-shearing > [noun] > day or spell of shearing
shearing-darg1550
shear-darg1600
run1900
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > [noun] > cutting, reaping, or mowing > day's work at reaping
shear-darg1600
1600 in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1605, 594/2 Lie scheirdarg.
1689 Visct. Dundee Speech in J. Drummond of Balhaldy Mem. Lochiel (1842) 264 I beg leave of yow, however, to allow me to give one ‘Shear-darg’ to the King, my master, that I may have ane opportunity of convincing the brave Clans that [etc.].
1717 Select. Scott. Forfeited Estates Papers (S.H.S.) Introd. 30 Shear-Dirgs..4 at 5d. each.
ΚΠ
1607 J. Norden Surueyors Dialogue iii. 108 Paper-mill, Sawing-mil, Shere-mil, or any other kind of Mill.
shear-sheep n. a sheep that has passed its first shearing and so more than one year old.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > genus Ovus > [noun] > Ovus Aries (domestic sheep) > defined by age > one year old or sheared once
shearling1378
hoggaster1388
hogget1421
shear-sheep1503
shear-hog?1523
hoggerel1530
shear wether hog1537
teg1537
hog sheep1552
lamb-hog1607
shearinga1642
two-teeth1776
hogling1856
1503 Maldon (Essex) Court Rolls (Bundle 62, No. iv) Defendens conduxit pasturam..pro centum ovibus vocat. share shepe a festo sancti Michaelis archangeli.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. 176/2 A share sheep, at two years old.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > [noun] > place for
drapery1483
shear-mill1607
shear-shop1688
1688 in W. R. Scott Rec. Sc. Cloth Manufactory New Mills (1905) 178 Whearas Mr. Debnams shearshope is not lairge enowgh for his shearmen to dress ther work in, therfor [etc.].
shear-skid n. Logging (see quot.).
ΚΠ
1905 Terms Forestry & Logging (Bull. U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau Forestry, No. 61) 37 Fender skid, a skid placed on the lower side of a skidding trail on a slope to hold the log on the trail while being skidded. Syn.:..shear skid.
shear wether hog n. (see shear-hog n.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > genus Ovus > [noun] > Ovus Aries (domestic sheep) > defined by age > one year old or sheared once
shearling1378
hoggaster1388
hogget1421
shear-sheep1503
shear-hog?1523
hoggerel1530
shear wether hog1537
teg1537
hog sheep1552
lamb-hog1607
shearinga1642
two-teeth1776
hogling1856
1537 in J. W. Clay North Country Wills (1908) I. 103 I geve unto..John half a hundreth of share wedder hogges or ewe hogges at his pleasure.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > treated or processed in specific way > [noun] > other > refuse particles from
shear-wool1585
1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 173/1 Tomentum. Sheerewooll: flocks, such as clothworkers make in sheering.
C2. (In sense II.)
shear centre n. the point in the plane of a section of a structural member through which a shear force can be applied without producing torsion.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > resistance to shear or breaking > point of
shear centre1937
1937 A. P. Poorman Strength of Materials (ed. 3) vii. 142 This point of application of the load, in order that there shall be no twist of the beam as it deflects, is called the shear centre.
1972 T. H. G. Megson Aircraft Struct. vii. 247 For cruciform or angle sections..the shear centre is located at the intersection of the sides.
shear flow n. flow which is accompanied by or occurs under the influence of a shearing force:
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > alteration of form or dimensions caused by stress > alteration of form > gradual deformation > specific
microplasticity1936
shear flow1950
1950 Philos. Mag. 41 890 (heading) The eddy viscosity in turbulent shear flow.
1975 Raudkivi & Callander Adv. Fluid Mech. iv. 155 A shear flow has non-zero gradients of mean velocity and the fluid is being sheared by the mean motion.
shear modulus n. the ratio of shear stress to shear strain, a measure of the resistance of a material to deformation by shearing forces; cf. rigidity modulus n. at rigidity n. Compounds.One of the four elastic constants, the others being the modulus of elasticity (Young's modulus), the bulk modulus, and Poisson's ratio.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > hardness > types of hardness > [noun] > stiffness or rigidity > measurement of
modulus of rigidity1877
shear modulus1937
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > modulus of rigidity
modulus of rigidity1877
rigidity modulus1883
shear modulus1937
1937 R. A. Dodge & M. J. Thompson Fluid Mech. viii. 165 An analogy is often drawn between the coefficient μ and the shear modulus of elastic materials.
1973 J. G. Tweeddale Materials Technol. I. iv. 86 The shear modulus may be obtained from experimental values of torsional load and torsional strain measured on a cylindrical test segment.
shear plane n. Geology a boundary surface between bodies of rock or ice which have experienced relative motion parallel to the surface.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > discontinuity or unconformity > [noun] > fault > plane
thrust-plane1884
shear plane1888
fault-plane1889
shearing plane1889
sole1889
bed-plane1895
bedding-plane1897
bedding fault1909
1888 J. J. H. Teall Brit. Petrogr. 447 Shearing, differential movement in a rock-mass. When the movement is concentrated along a plane, this plane is said to be a shear-plane.
1903 E. W. Claypole in Amer. Geol. Aug. 81 Some [strata] are completely concealed by others that have been forced over them along shear-planes developed by the enormous pressures to which they have been subjected.
1969 G. M. Bennison & A. E. Wright Geol. Hist. Brit. Isles xvi. 356 Recent work on the mechanism of ice flow shows that shear planes occur and that these carry material from the sole of the ice sheet to the surface.
shear strength n. = shearing strength n. at shearing n. Compounds 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > resistance to shear or breaking
breaking-strength1902
shear strength1931
1931 Laurson & Cox Properties & Mechanics of Materials i. 13 For most brittle materials..the tensile strength is least, the shear strength next, and the compressive strength greatest.
1978 Sci. Amer. Apr. 122/3 Under some circumstances molten silicates may not behave like ordinary fluids; they may have a shear strength greater than zero.
shear stress n. stress tending to produce shear.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > other specific types of stress
shear1850
shear strain1856
bending stress1858
proof strain1858
proof stress1862
shearing stress1869
shear stress1872
water stress1895
slip1900
fibre stress1905
hoop stress1909
1872 Examination Papers 1871–2 in Calendar Owens College, Manchester Appendix p. clv If the shear stress in the web of a plate girder is greatest in a vertical plane, in which directions would the stress arising from this shear be tension and compression respectively?
1937 R. A. Dodge & M. J. Thompson Fluid Mech. viii. 165 There is..an important distinction between the effects of shear stress on solids and on liquids.
1971 J. W. Ireland Mech. of Fluids viii. 242 Determine the shear stress at the pipe walls when water flows at the rate of 300 litres/min. through a 7·5 cm diameter pipe 150 m long.
shear-structure n. a rock-structure resulting wholly or partly from shearing.
ΚΠ
1885 A. Geikie Text-bk. Geol. (ed. 2) 578 Regional metamorphism..is usually most pronounced where, as shown by plication, puckering and shear-structure, the rocks have been subjected to the greatest mechanical movement.
shear-thickening n. and adj. (the property of) becoming more viscous when subjected to shear.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [adjective] > relating to change of form > changes of form in fluids
shear-thickening1963
shear-thinning1966
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > alteration of form or dimensions caused by stress > sheet > change of viscosity in fluids
shear-thickening1963
shear-thinning1966
1963 A. J. de Vries in P. Sherman Rheol. Emulsions Index 146 Shear thickening, activation energy.
1966 Jrnl. Colloid & Interface Sci. 22 554/1 This shear thickening leads to a maximum viscosity beyond which shear thinning occurs as the shear rate is increased.
1978 Sci. Amer. Nov. 143/2 The easiest example of a shear-thickening fluid that you can whip up in the kitchen is a simple mixture of water and cornstarch (or any common starch).
shear-thinning n. and adj. see shear-thickening n. and adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [adjective] > relating to change of form > changes of form in fluids
shear-thickening1963
shear-thinning1966
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > alteration of form or dimensions caused by stress > sheet > change of viscosity in fluids
shear-thickening1963
shear-thinning1966
1966Shear-thinning [see shear-thickening n. and adj.].
1974 P. L. Moore et al. Drilling Pract. Man. ii. 25 Most [drilling] muds are shear thinning.
1978 Sci. Amer. Nov. 142/3 The advantage of shear-thinning is perhaps most apparent in ink. You want the ink in your ball-point to flow freely (by being sheared) as you write, but you do not want it to flow when the pen is in your pocket.
shear wave n. an elastic wave which vibrates transversely to the direction of propagation; an S-wave.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > formation of features > convulsion > [noun] > earthquake > seismic wave
wave1761
earth wave1848
body wave1900
S wave1908
shear wave1936
shake wave1944
1936 J. B. Macelwane Introd. Theoret. Seismol. vii. 147 An isotropic elastic solid can transmit two types of waves, compressional and shear waves.
1977 A. Hallam Planet Earth 12 The outer core does not transmit shear waves and so must be liquid.
shear-zone n. Geology (see quot.).
ΚΠ
1911 J. F. Kemp Min. Deposits in Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 507/2 Sometimes..strains of compression have been eased by local crushing along comparatively narrow belts without appreciable..displacement of the sides such as would be required by a pronounced fault. The word shear-zone has become quite widely used in recent years as..applicable to these cases.
Draft additions April 2010
shear strain n. Physics and Engineering (a) = shear stress n. at Compounds 2; (b) a state of strain resulting from shear stress.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > other specific types of stress
shear1850
shear strain1856
bending stress1858
proof strain1858
proof stress1862
shearing stress1869
shear stress1872
water stress1895
slip1900
fibre stress1905
hoop stress1909
1856 Orr's Circle Sci. (heading) 307 Power of resistance to the shear strain.
1873 S. Whipple Elem. & Pract. Treat. Bridge Building 143 Iron may likewise be acted upon by forces tending to force it asunder laterally, in the manner of the action of a pair of shears. This is called a shear strain.
1947 T. J. Reynolds & E. Kent Struct. Steelwork (ed. 8) i. 9 Shear strain is concerned with the change of shape, or the distortion, which results from shear stress.
2005 R. E. Newnham Properties of Materials xiii. 109 The Rigidity Modulus G is a measure of shear strain under shear stress.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
shearn.3
/ʃɪə/, U.S. /ʃɪ(ə)r/ The bar, or one of the two parallel bars forming the bed of a lathe, on which the poppets slide. Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine tool > lathe > [noun] > other parts of lathe
steel bow1680
shear1812
dog plate1834
wheel-plate1859
turning-gauge1877
spur centre1881
tail-pin1887
cat-head1940
1812 P. Nicholson Mech. Exercises 364 The bed [of a foot lathe] consists of two parallel parts, called by some shears.
1869 W. J. M. Rankine Cycl. Machine & Hand-tools Pl. N 1 Two cast iron end standards..upon which is laid the long massive cast iron shear-piece.
1873 J. Richards On Arrangem. Wood-working Factories 160 The shear, or lathe frame..can be made of wood.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1262/1 The bar-lathe has a single beam or shear, generally of a triangular shape.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1262/1 The bed-lathe is the usual form, and has two parallel shears.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1262/2 The bed, sheers, cheeks, sides, on which the puppets slide.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
shearv.
/ʃɪə/, U.S. /ʃɪ(ə)r//ʃɔːn/. Forms: Old English sciran, scieran, scyran, scearan, sceoran, sceran, Middle English scer, scire, schær, sere, ssere, Middle English scere, Middle English–1500s schere, Middle English–1600s shere, Middle English–1500s scher, Middle English sher, Middle English–1600s scheir, 1500s scheer, cheir, shire, (? shore), 1500s–1600s share, sheare, sheere, 1600s sheire, 1500s–1800s sheer, Middle English– shear. past tense, strong Old English plural scǽron, subjunctive singular scéare, Middle English sar, scar(e, scher, Middle English–1500s schare, Middle English Scottish chare, Middle English schaar, Middle English shar, schar, shere, schere, Middle English–1500s schair, schure, Middle English share, schayr, Middle English–1500s schewre, 1700s Scottish shure, 1500s– shore. weak Middle English scherde, Middle English scharde, scharid, scherid, 1500s sheard, 1800s sheered, 1600s– sheared. past participle strong Old English scoren, Middle English soren, Middle English schoren, Middle English scorn, schorn, Middle English shorun, schorin, sheren, Middle English–1500s schorne, Middle English–1600s shorne, Middle English shor, Middle English–1600s shore, 1500s shoren, shoron, Middle English– shorn; also Middle English y-schorn(e, y-shore, y-schore, Middle English, 1600s y-shorne. weak Middle English schurd, Middle English schard, 1500s chard, 1600s– sheared. 1. † c. transitive. To circumcise. (Also with about.)† d. To cut for the stone. Const. of. Scottish. Obsolete.† e. To cut up, to chop (a substance) fine, to mince. Obsolete.† f. To carve (meat) at table. Also absol. Obsolete.† g. To gnaw through, cut in pieces with the teeth. Also intransitive const. through. Obsolete.† h. To make (a hole, a wound) by cutting. Obsolete.† i. To rend, tear. Also intransitive for reflexive. Obsolete.
a. transitive. To cut (something) with a sharp instrument. Often with adverb or adverbial phrase, as asunder, in pieces, in two. Obsolete exc. archaic †Also occasionally to pierce, thrust through.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > cutting > cut [verb (transitive)] > cut through
shearOE
hacka1325
through-carvec1330
through-cutc1330
detrench1398
rivea1400
trench1483
cross-cut1590
rescind1598
transect1634
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > making holes or becoming holed > make (an opening or hole) [verb (transitive)] > make an opening or hole in or into > bore, pierce, or perforate > with something sharp-pointed
shearOE
sting993
stickOE
spita1225
wound?c1225
stitchc1230
pitcha1275
threstc1275
forprick1297
steekc1300
piercec1325
rivec1330
dag?a1400
jag?a1400
lancec1400
pickc1400
tamec1400
forpierce1413
punch1440
launch1460
thringc1485
empiercec1487
to-pierce1488
joba1500
ding1529
stob?1530
probe1542
enthrill1563
inthirlc1580
cloy1590
burt1597
pink1597
lancinate1603
perterebrate1623
puncture1675
spike1687
skiver1832
bepierce1840
gimlet1841
prong1848
javelin1859
OE Andreas (1932) 1181 Lætað wæpnes spor iren ecgheard, ealdorgeard sceoran, fæges feorhhord.
OE Beowulf 1287 Sweord..swin ofer helme ecgum dyhtig andweard scireð.
a1225 St. Marher. 22 Ant tet scharpe sweord..scher hire bi þe schuldren.
13.. Coer de L. 3001 Ther was many gentyl heved, Quykly fro the body weved; Scheldes many schorn in twoo.
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 474 Tristrem schare þe brest.
a1340 R. Rolle Cant. Ezek. in Psalter 5 Bifore shorne is as of þe wefand my life whils ȝit .i. bigan he sheris me down.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 16554 In tua þis tre þai scare.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 8875 Wit ax he wald haf scorn it [sc. the tree] þan.
?a1400 Morte Arth. 1856 They scherde in the schiltrone scheldyde knyghttez.
c1400 Melayne 1093 And hawberkes sone in schredis were schorne.
c1442 Erasmus (BL Add.) in C. Horstmann Sammlung Altengl. Legenden (1878) 202 Sheryng his flesshe with cikels.
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 2200 Þe roche away he share.
1563 W. Baldwin et al. Myrrour for Magistrates (new ed.) Collingbourne xviii His grashyng tuskes my tender grystels shore.
1568 Christis Kirk on Grene in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. 264 Throwt baith the cheikis he thot to cheir him or throw þe erss haif chard him.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. vi. sig. R6 Cymochles sword..Nigh one quarter sheard away.
1594 C. Marlowe & T. Nashe Dido iv. iv For this will Dido..sheere ye all asunder with her hands.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 90 At the first straik..it walde scheir a man in twa.
1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §311 As bright as if shorn by a file.
1821 J. Baillie Ghost Fadon in Metrical Legends xxxix His sword shore empty air.
1887 W. Morris tr. Homer Odyssey I. x. 173 I sheared the hawser of my ship.
b. absol. or intransitive. Now chiefly, To cut through (an obstacle) with the aid of a weapon. †Also with cognate object, to cut (one's way, passage).
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > cutting > cut [verb (intransitive)]
carve?c1225
rivec1275
shearc1275
cutc1400
racea1413
incise?1541
slash1548
slive1558
hackle1577
haggle1577
slice1606
snipa1680
chip1844
bite1849
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [verb (intransitive)] > through or over obstacles > by cutting
shearc1275
to shave out one's way1605
to cut one's waya1616
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 7094 Whætte his sæxes alse he schæren wolde.
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 213 As wel schapen to schere as scharp rasores.
1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. ciiiiv Sa wondir scharply he schare throu his schene schroud.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) II. 326 Ane small arrow, that scharpe as rasour schair.
1562 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Æneid viii. Z 4 Through ye tydes they [the dolphins] shering glaunst.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. iv. sig. Ff5v Then all the rest into their coches clim, And through the brackish waues their passage shear.
1667 J. Dryden Annus Mirabilis 1666 lxxviii. 20 So thick, our Navy scarce could sheer their way.
1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Leila ii. ii. 81 By a back stroke of his own cimeter, shore through the cuirass.
1898 G. W. Steevens With Kitchener to Khartum 273 Through the swordsmen they [sc. the Lancers] shore without checking.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > cleanness (ceremonial) > circumcision > perform circumcision [verb (transitive)]
umbeclipc1175
umbeshearc1175
umbecarvea1240
sheara1300
circumcisea1325
circumcide1340
skina1400
carvec1420
excise1634
a1300 Cursor Mundi 2695 Him self and ismael he scare.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1200 Ðe egtende dai..Circumcised he was, a-buten schoren.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > operations on specific parts or conditions > perform operation on specific part or condition [verb (transitive)] > operations on bladder
cut1566
shear1572
lithotritize1842
lithotomize1851
1572 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 529/1 James..hes bene twyis schorne of the stane.
c1600 Diurnal of Remarkable Occurrents (1833) 77 Henrie bischope of Ross was schorne of the stane.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > action of dividing or divided condition > division by cutting > divide by cutting [verb (transitive)] > cut into pieces > small
mince1381
myce1381
shearc1430
morcellate1909
c1430 Two Cookery-bks. 11 Shere Oynonys, an frye hem in oyle.
1613 J. May Declar. Estate of Clothing v. 29 Flox..which they can sheare as small as dust.
1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd ii. i Small are they shorn.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation for table or cooking > preparation of meat > dress animals for food [verb (transitive)] > carve
shearc1330
unlacec1400
smitea1500
carve1529
to cut up1574
cuta1616
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 602 Bifor him scheres þe mes, Þe king.
a1440 Sir Degrev. 801 All the met that she schare.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) ii. 92 Iames off Dowglas, that ay-quhar All-wayis befor the byschop schar.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > biting > bite [verb (transitive)] > into or through something
biteOE
shear1530
to sink one's teeth into1832
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 702/1 Take hede on hym [a hounde], for he wyl sheare his lyme.
1587 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Iland Brit. (new ed.) iii. iv. 225/2 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) I The beuer..will..shere thorough a dubble billet in a night.
1631 G. Markham Countrey Contentm. (ed. 4) i. x. 72 They defend the line from shearing or cutting in pieces with the teeth of the Pike.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > making holes or becoming holed > make (an opening or hole) [verb (transitive)] > by cutting
through-cutc1330
shearc1425
c1425 Noah's Ark in N. Davis Non-Cycle Plays & Fragm. (1970) 20 Look that..in her side a door thou shear.
c1440 York Myst. xlii. 161 Fele the wound þe spere did schere riȝt in his syde.
1617 W. Lawson Country Housewifes Garden (1623) x. 22 Mice..will in eyther at the mouth [of the hive], or sheere themselues an hole.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > tearing or tearing apart > tear [verb (intransitive)]
renda1325
racec1390
sundera1393
shearc1450
ruska1525
rent1526
tear1526
to go abroad1568
raga1642
spalt1731
screeda1801
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > tearing or tearing apart > tear [verb (transitive)]
tearc1000
renta1325
reavea1400
lacerate?a1425
raise?a1425
rivea1425
shearc1450
unsoundc1450
ranch?a1525
rechec1540
pilla1555
wreathe1599
intertear1603
shark1611
vulture1628
to tear at1848
spalt1876
c1450 Mirour Saluacioun (1888) 93 Jacob..share his clothis vtward.
c1500 W. Kennedy Passion of Christ 1067 The wale full sone [haly] intwa it schure.
a1513 W. Dunbar Ballat Abbot of Tungland in Poems (1998) I. 59 He schewre his feddreme..And slippit owt of it full clene.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid viii. xii. 70 Wyth mantell rent and schorne men micht hir se.
j. To cut (glass, tin-plate, etc.) with shears. Also, to cut (iron or steel bars, etc.) with shears (see shear n.1 1g).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > working with tools or equipment > work with tools or equipment [verb (transitive)] > other tools or equipment
rolla1325
coina1483
wedge1530
maul1664
burnish1793
roller1828
shear1837
miser1847
trough1881
tank1905
trepan1909
lance1945
plough1961
society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with metal > work with metal [verb (transitive)] > other metalworking processes
burnishc1325
rockc1400
leadc1440
braze1552
run1650
stratify1669
shingle1674
snarl1688
plate1706
bar1712
strake1778
shear1837
pile1839
matt1854
reek1869
bloom1875
siliconize1880
tumble1883
rustproof1886
detin1909
blank1914
anodize1931
roll1972
1837 L. Hebert Engin. & Mech. Encycl. I. 774 Shearing the Bars.—This rough bar is..put between the jaws of a pair of shears..and cut into lengths of about a foot each.
1850 E. Clark Britannia & Conway Bridges II. 665 The storing away of the plates..as they were sheared and punched.
1869 W. J. M. Rankine Cycl. Machine & Hand-tools Pl.K 1 Shear blades long enough to shear a plate at one cut.
1883 H. J. Powell Princ. Glass-making 63 The workman heats the severed edge, shears it even, and smooths and rounds it by melting.
1884 Cassell's Techn. Educator II. 19/1 A bar of wrought iron one square inch in section is required to be sheared across.
2. † b. figurative.† c. To fashion by cutting out of a sheet of metal. Obsolete.
a. To remove (a part) from a body by cutting with a sharp instrument. Chiefly with adv. to cut off, out, away.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > injury > maiming or mutilation > maim or mutilate [verb (transitive)]
wemc900
slaya1000
alithOE
hamblea1050
belimbc1225
dismember1297
lamec1300
maimc1325
shearc1330
unablec1380
emblemishc1384
magglec1425
magc1450
demember1491
disablea1492
manglea1500
menyie?a1513
mayhem1533
mutilatec1570
martyr1592
stump1596
bemaim1605
cripplea1616
martyrize1615
deartuate1623
hamstring1641
becripple1660
limb1674
truncate1727
dislimb1855
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 1485 His tong haþ he..schorn of bi þe rote.
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 1337 Þen scher þay out þe schuldereȝ with her scharp knyueȝ.
1483 W. Caxton in tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 214/1 Kenelme kyng barn lyeth under a thorn his hede of shorn.
1581 A. Hall tr. Homer 10 Bks. Iliades v. 78 His right hande at a blow his falchon off did shere.
1614 A. Gorges tr. Lucan Pharsalia vi. 222 He..with his blade sheares off their wrists.
1740 W. Somervile Hobbinol ii. 58 With its sharpen'd Edge Shear'd both his Ears.
1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe III. i. 18 The plume was partly shorn away.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. i. iv. 32 The guillotine-axe, which sheers away thy vainly whimpering head.
1852 C. Kingsley Andromeda 306 As the vine-hook shears off the vine-bough.
1902 E. Phillpotts River 322 He shore off the crust of the heath.
ΚΠ
a1340 R. Rolle Psalter cxviii. 36 Make my herte meke and lufand,..þat auarice be quytly shorne fra me.
c1400 Rule St. Benet (Prose) 11 And scere o-way [L. amputare] al þe langing of yure fleis.
c1400 Rule St. Benet (Prose) 36 And for þi þat it es vice of propirte, sal it be scorn als þifte.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > [verb (transitive)] > fashion, shape, or form > form by cutting, pounding, tearing, rubbing, etc.
hewc900
smitec1275
tailc1400
carve1490
tear1597
wear1597
to work out1600
draw1610
to carve outa1616
effringe1657
shear1670
pare1708
sned1789
whittle1848
to rip up1852
slice1872
chop1874
1670 J. Pettus Fodinæ Regales xxvi. 79 The Moniers, who are some to sheer the Money, some to forge it [etc.].
3. † b. To give the tonsure to. Usually in passive, to be shorn a monk; also occasionally reflexive. Also to be shorn in, to be initiated to the religious life by the reception of the tonsure. Obsolete or archaic.
a. To remove (the hair or beard) by means of some sharp instrument (also with off, away); to shave (the head or face); to cut (the hair) close or short; to cut or shave the hair or beard of (a person). Now rare except in past participle shorn.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > beautify (the hair) [verb (transitive)] > cut
shearc897
shavec1320
topc1330
dockc1386
clipc1405
pollc1450
roundc1450
coll1483
cow?1507
not1530
trim1530
tonse1555
benotte1594
decurtate1599
scissora1625
to set upa1625
tonsure1793
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > beautify (the hair) [verb (transitive)] > shave
shearc897
shave?c1225
strikec1275
razec1460
mow1647
scrapea1774
razora1783
tonsure1793
stubble1836
c897 K. Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care xviii. 138 Swiðe ryhtlice wæs ðæm sacerde forboden ðæt he his heafod sceare.
c1000 Ælfric Leviticus xix. 27 Ne ge eow ne efesion ne beard ne sciron!
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 8814 He scar [c1300 Otho sar] his crune ufenen.
1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) 3160 His berd he let ssere verst.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 169 Metridas his secounde wyf schaar hir heed for love of here housbonde.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 7211 War mi hare schorn [Gött. schorin, Fairf. shorne], i war noght þan Stranger þan a-noþer man.
a1450 Knt. de la Tour (1906) 92 She share of and cut awey the heres of his hede.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Acts xviii. 18 He had schorne his heed in Cenchrea.
1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene iv. v. sig. E6v Shagged heare, The which he neuer wont to combe, or comely sheare . View more context for this quotation
1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia ii. 25 His hayre, the one side was long, the other shore close.
1786 Pogonologia 97 The preacher drew out a pair of scissars, and sheared the prince's chin.
1821 R. Southey Exped. Orsua 98 Their hair was sheared in circles.
1850 E. B. Browning Lament for Adonis vii They have shorn their bright curls off to cast on Adonis.
1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake I. xv. 283 But I am no monk. I have shorn many a crown, but I have kept my own hair as yet, you see.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > cleanness (ceremonial) > tonsure > perform tonsure [verb (transitive)]
sheara950
crownc1300
shavea1400
tonsure1843
society > faith > worship > cleanness (ceremonial) > tonsure > perform tonsure [verb (intransitive)] > undergo tonsure
to be shorn in1565
society > faith > worship > cleanness (ceremonial) > tonsure > perform tonsure [verb (transitive)] > undergo tonsure
to be shorn in1567–9
a950 Prose Life Guthlac (1909) vii. 138 Ða gelamp hit sume dæge þæt se ylca preost com to þam eadigan were, þæt he hine wolde scyran.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1876) VI. 7 He..was i-schore monk in an abbay.
1565 T. Stapleton tr. Bede Hist. Church Eng. v. xiii. f. 161*v Being shoren in, he went into a secret cell which the abbot had prouided for him.
1567–9 J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. (1611) 372 The King was shorne into an Abbie, and made a Monke.
1591 G. Fletcher Of Russe Common Wealth ix. f. 26v Some are put into Abbeyes, and shire themselues Friers by pretence of a vowe.
1653 H. Holcroft tr. Procopius Persian Wars ii. 68 in tr. Procopius Hist. Warres Justinian When John was shorne a Priest.
4.
a. In passive, to be shorn: to be deprived of some part or appurtenance by or as by cutting. Chiefly transferred and figurative in certain collocations originally alluding to sense 3, e.g. (of a luminary) to be shorn of its beams; to be shorn of one's strength (? in allusion to the story of Samson), of one's authority, privileges, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > loss > be lost [verb (intransitive)] > suffer loss
losec1230
leesec1300
tine1340
to lose a loss1498
vary1532
sweat1533
to be shorn1740
1740 W. Somervile Hobbinol ii. 87 The tall Oak,..shorn of his leafy shade.
1778 S. Johnson Let. 3 July (1992) III. 119 He cannot bear the thought of living at—in a state of diminution; and of appearing among the gentlemen of the neighbourhood shorn of his beams.
1836 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece III. 23 A law, by which the Areopagus was shorn of its authority.
a1849 E. A. Poe Annie in Poet. Wks. (1859) 116 Sadly I know I am shorn of my strength.
1875 F. I. Scudamore Day Dreams 8 It is shorn of its former proportions.
b. rarely active (in complex verb phrases with shorn).
ΚΠ
1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 79 The misgovernment of domestic tyrants had shorn it of much of its grandeur.
5. Proverb.c1460 J. Fortescue Governance of Eng. (1885) x. 132 And so his hyghnes shall haue þeroff, but as hadd þe man þat sherid is hogge, muche crye and litil woll.1654 E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot i. v. 17 The Wooll we shall have is as much as the Devill (God blesse us) got when he shore a hog.1827 W. Scott Jrnl. 24 Feb. (1941) 27 It was much cry and little woo', as the deil said when he shore the sow.absolute.1480 Table Prouffytable Lernynge (Caxton) (1964) 30 He oweth to shere.1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms I. viii. 103 As long as we shore clean..the overseer..didn't trouble his head much about our doings.† b. to shear against the wool (fig.): ? to treat roughly. Obsolete.Proverb.1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth i, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. II. 30 He who goes forth to seek such wool should come back shorn.
a. To cut the fleece from (an animal); also, to cut off (the fleece, wool, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > sheep-farming > sheep-shearing > shear sheep [verb (intransitive)]
shear900
sheep-shear1909
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > sheep-farming > sheep-shearing > shear sheep [verb (transitive)]
shear900
clipc1175
lip1607
fleece1885
900 in Birch Cartul. Sax. (1887) II. 241 And hi sculan waxan sceap and sciran on hiora agenre hwile.
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Gen. xxxi. 19 Laban ȝede to schere scheep.
c1440 York Myst. xxviii. 141 Lyke schepe þat were scharid A-way schall ȝe schake.
1557 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandrie sig. C.iii In Iune washe thy shepe,..Then share them.
1615 J. Swetnam Araignm. Lewde, Idle, Froward, & Vnconstant Women ii. 29 Is not..the sheepe sheared for his fliece?
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 (1623) ii. v. 37 So many yeares, ere I shall sheere the Fleece. View more context for this quotation
1759 R. Brown Compl. Farmer 81 In some countries they shear their geese.
1867 G. MacDonald Poems 283 He gathered the hemp, and he shore the wool.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > violent behaviour > treat violently [verb (transitive)] > treat violently or roughly
to lay hands (or hand) on or upon (also in, to)OE
ransacka1400
attamec1430
ruffle1489
tug1493
to shear against the wool1546
rumble1570
finger1572
to pull about1679
misguggle1814
rowdy1825
to jerk around1833
scrag1835
rough1845
hooligan1898
roughhouse1898
savage1899
to rough up1915
to treat 'em rough1918
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue i. xi. sig. Div What shuld your face thus agayn the woll be shorne?
c1550 Song, ‘Back & Side’ in Skelton's Wks. (1843) I. p. vii I shall looke lyke one by swete sainte Johnn were shoron agaynste the woole.
c. figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > loss > taking away > take away [verb (transitive)] > fleece
milk?1531
shred1548
suck1558
shear1570
fleece1575
shave1606
unfleece1609
jib1728
skin1819
sweat1847
1570 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xvi. 87 I wald sum man wald scheir ȝow clene.
a1628 F. Greville Life of Sidney (1651) v. 62 Employing no instruments among the people, but such as devise to sheer them with taxes.
1818 J. Lawrence in Monthly Mag. Dec. 396/1 It mattered little to them, whether the flock were led by the nose and sheared by a convocation of bishops, or an assembly of divines.
d. To yield (a fleece), to produce by being shorn. †Also absol. or intransitive to be shorn (?). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > genus Ovus > [verb (transitive)] > yield a fleece
shear1852
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > sheep-farming > sheep-shearing > shear sheep [verb (intransitive)] > yield wool
toda1616
shear1854
1587 D. Fenner Song of Songs iv. 1 Those same goates which doe vpon The mount of Gilhad sheare.
1852 Trans. Michigan Agric. Soc. 3 139 An article upon Sheep, describing bucks that shear the big fleeces.
1854 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 15 i. 228 The tegs..shear a fleece varying from 5 to 7 lbs.
e. Australian and New Zealand. To own or keep (sheep).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > sheep-farming > rear sheep or wool [verb (transitive)]
grow1842
shear1930
1930 L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. ii. 35 The homestead..belongs to J. E. Scott who still shears about 3000 sheep there.
1965 J. S. Gunn Terminol. Shearing Industry ii. 18 Shear,..this word is..used by woolgrowers to indicate the size of their flocks, for example, ‘I shear about 5000’.
6. To cut off (the superfluous nap of woollen cloth) in the process of manufacture; also, in hat-making, to remove (nap) by singeing or scouring.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making headgear > make headgear [verb (intransitive)] > remove nap
shearc1340
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > treating or processing textile fabric > treat or process textile fabrics [verb (intransitive)] > other processes
shearc1340
starch1390
print1839
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > treating or processing textile fabric > treat or process textile fabric [verb (transitive)] > shear
shearc1340
nap?c1475
barb1535
crop1839
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making headgear > make headgear [verb (transitive)] > make hats > carry out specific processes
block1622
plait1723
shear1728
ruff1842
plank1875
shave1875
velure1880
twang1882
half-block1884
c1340 Nominale (Skeat) 388 Homme drap retounde M. scleruth [read scheruth] clothe.
1442 Eton Coll. Acc. in R. Willis & J. W. Clark Archit. Hist. Univ. Cambr. (1886) I. 382 Robert Falowefeld for the shering of the seid ix yerdes of Ray.
1510 in Hist. MSS Comm.: 10th Rep.: App. Pt. V: MSS Marquis of Ormonde &c. (1885) 394 in Parl. Papers (C. 4576-I) XLII. 1 The said cotteners shall shore a dosen for eight pence of brod cloth.
1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. D7v The Clothier also to sheare it very lowe.
1662 J. A. Comenius Janua Linguarum Trilinguis 95 From hence they [sc. the cloths]..are delivered to the shearer into the shop, who sheareth them being spread upon a table with shears.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Cloth The Cloth being dry'd, is returned to the Sheerman, who sheers it a second time.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Sheering Some use the Phrase Sheering of Hats, for the passing of Hats made of Wooll, over the Flame of a clear Fire..to take off the long Hairs.
1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. Great Brit. iii. 105 The nap of the cloth..is ‘cut’, or ‘cropped’, or ‘sheared’.
1875 R. Hunt & F. W. Rudler Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) III. 369 For fine printing, it is by some considered needful to shear the nap of the cloth instead of singeing it.
7. figurative.1563 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 59 We mot also scheir the fruit of the doctrine of quheit.figurative.1554 D. Lindsay Dialog Experience & Courteour l. 5873 in Wks. (1931) I Ȝour polit payntit flatterye, Ȝour dissimulat Ypocrasye, That day thay sall be cleirlye knawin, Quhen ȝe sall scheir as ȝe haue sawin.
a. To cut down, to reap (grass, crops, etc.) with a sickle (†formerly also, with a scythe). Now dialect.In north midland dialects to shear is to cut with a sickle or hook, while to mow means to cut with a scythe. In Scotland also to shear implies the use of a sickle or hook; for reaping with a scythe the general term cut is used.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > harvest (a crop) [verb (transitive)] > reap or mow a crop
moweOE
reapeOE
cutc1300
sheara1325
barb1652
demess1657
hack1681
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > harvest (a crop) [verb (transitive)] > reap or mow a crop > with a sickle
sheara1325
fag1807
sickle1922
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1919 Ðat is handful stod rigt up soren.
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis II. 261 Manye [herbs] with a knyf sche scherth.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 4057 Him thogh[t] his fader þaier corn schare.
c1440 Alphabet of Tales 118 When he had shorn it [the corn].
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xvv In the later ende of Iuly..is tyme to shere rye... And in some places they mowe it.
1594 T. Kyd tr. R. Garnier Cornelia iv. i. 9 Lyke cocks of Hay when Iuly sheares the field.
1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion xvi. 246 Where now the sharp-edg'd Sithe sheeres vp the spyring grasse.
1745 C. J. Hamilton in Academy (1893) 18 Nov. 440/3 Ye french Put grape shot into their cannon and cut them down just as if they were sheering corn.
1764 Museum Rusticum 1 440 (note) In the north of England they call reaping wheat shearing it.
b. absol. or intransitive. To cut standing crops; to use a sickle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > harvest [verb (intransitive)] > reap or mow
reapeOE
mowlOE
sheara1325
kemp1513
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > harvest [verb (intransitive)] > reap or mow > use sickle
sheara1325
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2347 Two ger ben nu ðat derke [read derðe] is cumen, Get sulen .v. fulle ben numen, Ðat men ne sulen sowen ne sheren.
a1340 R. Rolle Psalter cxxviii. 6 Of þe whilk he shal not fille his hand þat shal shere.
c1400 Rule of St. Benet (Verse) 1853 Vnto þe tyme of euynsang, To scher or bind.
c1520 M. Nisbet New Test. in Scots (1901) I. Matt. xxv. 26 Wist thou that I schere [Wycl. repe] quhare I sew nocht.
a1568 Bannatyne MS (Hunterian Club) 260 Husbandis to saw and scheir.
1616 G. Markham tr. C. Estienne et al. Maison Rustique (rev. ed.) v. xiv. 545 In other countries they vse to sheare after the Sunne is risen.
1789 R. Burns (title of song) Robin shure in hairst.
1883 Longman's Mag. Apr. 647 Some years ago cottagers here and there had to ‘shear’ for their cottage, i.e. to work during harvest time in exchange for a free cottage.
c. transferred (transitive) To nibble close.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by eating habits > [verb (transitive)] > graze or crop
crop1362
pasture?c1470
shear1610
graze1667
shack1904
1610 Bible (Douay) II. Dan. iv. 13 Annot., He..did eate grasse as an oxe, putting his mouth to the ground, to shere and swalowe it.
1615 G. Wither Shepherds Hunting v. H 1 Our sheepe the short sweet grasse do shear.
1658 J. Rowland tr. T. Moffett Theater of Insects in Topsell's Hist. Four-footed Beasts (rev. ed.) 986 This not only tasts of corn or shears it, but breaks and grinds stalk and all.
d. To clip, cut, or trim (a tree or bush, a lawn); †to cut off (a branch).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [verb (transitive)] > trees: prune or lop
sneda800
shredc1000
crop?c1225
purgec1384
parea1398
shear1398
shridea1425
dodc1440
polla1449
twist1483
top1509
stow1513
lop1519
bough?1523
head?1523
poll-shred1530
prune1547
prime1565
twig1570
reform1574
disbranch1575
shroud1577
snathe1609
detruncate1623
amputate1638
abnodate1656
duba1661
to strip up1664
reprune1666
pollard1670
shrub1682
log1699
switch1811
limb1835
preen1847
to cut back1871
shrig1873
brash1950
summer prune1980
the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > management of plants > [verb (transitive)] > prune or trim
shear1398
shragc1440
geld?1523
reform1574
shorten1706
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum xvii. i. (Tollemache MS.) Tren and herbes of gardenes schulde be wilde, but þey beþ kepte parid and schurde.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 11713 Iesus..said, ‘þou palme, i comand þe Þat o þi branches an be scorn’.
1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry (new ed.) f. 31 Let lop be shorne, that hindreth corne.
1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner ii. vi. iii. 165 We shear our Palisade's the second time.
1802 W. Taylor in J. W. Robberds Mem. W. Taylor (1843) I. 450 A sort of yew~hedge, tangled with luxuriance and sheared into spruceness.
1863 N. Hawthorne Our Old Home II. 84 The garden..had been levelled, carefully shorn, and converted into a bowling-green.
8.
a. To cleave, divide, said esp. of ships, birds, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > action of dividing or divided condition > cleaving or splitting > cleave or split [verb (transitive)]
to-cleavec888
cleavea1100
forcleavec1290
shidec1315
rivec1330
sheara1340
carvec1374
slivea1400
thrusche1483
porfend1490
splet1530
share?1566
spleet1585
splint1591
split1595
diverberate1609
fissure1656
spall1841
balkanize1942
a1340 R. Rolle Psalter xxviii. 7 Þe voice of lord sherand þe flaume of fire.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid v. i. 5 His navy with north wind scherand the seyis.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. vi. sig. R2v Her shallow ship away did slide, More swift, then swallow sheres the liquid skye.
1622 G. de Malynes Consuetudo 286 Ingots, for to be deliuered to the moneyers to sheire the same by weight into small peeces.
1706 Cerealia 27 Fame to high Olympus flew, Shearing th'expanse of heaven with active plume.
1864 Ld. Tennyson Voyage ii The Lady's-head upon the prow Caught the shrill salt, and sheer'd the gale.
1885 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche i. xxix. 12 Like a plough that sheers the heavy land.
b. intransitive for reflexive. where (or as) wind and weather (or water) shears: on the ridge of a hill, on the highest ground.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > ridge > [adverb]
where (or as) wind and weather (or water) shears1556
ridgewise1577
1556 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 245/2 Keipand the heid of the Innerhill in propirtie, quhill it cum to the meting of the tua gaittis as wynd and wodder scheris.
1601 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 395/2 Ascendand up to the hill or month heidis thairof as wind and wedder scheirris.
1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering II. 273 On the tap o' the hill where the wind and water shears.
9. Physics (also Mechanics, Geology, etc.). To subject to a shearing stress; to distort or fracture by shear.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > subject to stress [verb (transitive)] > shearing
shear1850
1850 E. Clark Britannia & Conway Bridges I. 389 Examples of this kind of strain occur in the rivet which unites the two blades of a pair of scissors, or the rivet on which the blade rotates in an ordinary pocket-knife. In the former..the evident tendency of the strain is to shear the rivet in one place only, and this is called a single shear; but in the knife the rivet must be sheared in two places before the blade can escape.
1850 E. Clark Britannia & Conway Bridges II. 517 It is evident that immediate strain from the weight of the structure, close to the piers on which it is supported, will tend to shear off the end of the tube in a vertical line.
1881 O. Fisher Physics Earth's Crust x. 120 Yet we may arrive at some conclusion as to whether the material at any given level within the crust will on the average be sheared upwards or downwards by the compression.
1883 O. J. Lodge in Nature 1 Feb. 328/2 The ether may be sheared by electromotive forces into positive and negative electricity.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 669/2 [article Lighting] The filament after a time breaks up into sections which become curiously sheared with respect to each other.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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v.c897- polytheisms
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