Shear

Shear, shēr, v.t. to cut or clip: to clip with shears or any other instrument: (Scot.) to reap with a sickle.—v.i. to separate, cut, penetrate: in mining, to make a vertical cut in the coal:—pa.t. sheared, (obs.) shore; pa.p. sheared or shorn.—n. a shearing or clipping: a strain where compression is answered by elongation at right angles: curve, deviation.—ns. Shear′-bill, the scissor-bill, cut-water, or black skimmer; Shear′er; Shear′-hog, a sheep after the first shearing; Shear′ing, the act or operation of cutting with shears: what is cut off with shears: (Scot.) the time of reaping: the process of preparing shear-steel: (geol.) the process by which shear-structure (q.v.) has been produced; Shear′ling, a sheep only once sheared; Shear′man, one whose occupation is to shear cloth; Shears (pl. and sing.), an instrument for shearing or cutting, consisting of two blades that meet each other: a hoisting apparatus (see Sheers): anything resembling shears, as even a pair of wings (Spens.); Shear′-steel, steel suitable for the manufacture of shears and other edge-tools; Shear′-struc′ture (geol.), a structure often seen in volcanic rocks, due to the reciprocal compression and elongation of various parts under great crust movements; Shear′-wa′ter, a genus of oceanic birds allied to the petrels, and varying from 8½ to 14 inches in length. [A.S. sceran; Ice. skera, to clip, Ger. scheren, to shave.]