shear Verb
To cut, originally with a sword or other bladed weapon, now usually with shears, or as if using shears.
* 1819 , Walter Scott, Ivanhoe :
- So trenchant was the Templar’s weapon, that it shore asunder, as it had been a willow twig, the tough and plaited handle of the mace, which the ill-fated Saxon reared to parry the blow, and, descending on his head, levelled him with the earth.
* Shakespeare
- the golden tresses were shorn away
To remove the fleece from a sheep etc by clipping.
(physics) To deform because of shearing forces.
(Scotland) To reap, as grain.
- (Jamieson)
(figurative) To deprive of property; to fleece.
Noun
( en noun)
a cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger
* Dryden
- short of the wool, and naked from the shear
the act of shearing, or something removed by shearing
* Youatt
- 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.
(physics) a force that produces a shearing strain
(geology) The response of a rock to deformation usually by compressive stress, resulting in particular textures.
Derived terms
* megashear
* shearer
Adjective
(head)
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shave English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) shaven, schaven, from (etyl) , (etyl) skafa.
Verb
To make bald by using a tool such as a razor or pair of electric clippers to cut the hair close to the skin.
To cut anything in this fashion.
- The labourer with the bending scythe is seen / Shaving the surface of the waving green.
To remove hair from one's face by this means.
- I had little time to shave this morning.
To cut finely, as with slices of meat.
To skim along or near the surface of; to pass close to, or touch lightly, in passing.
* Milton
- Now shaves with level wing the deep.
* 1899 ,
-
(archaic) To be hard and severe in a bargain with; to practice extortion on; to cheat.
(US, slang, dated, transitive) To buy (a note) at a discount greater than the legal rate of interest, or to deduct in discounting it more than the legal rate allows.
Derived terms
* aftershave
* reshave
* shave brush / shaving brush
* shaving bump
* shave cream / shaving cream
* shave foam / shaving foam
* shave down
* shave off
* shaveling
* unshaved
Etymology 2
(etyl) sceafa
Noun
( en noun)
An instance of shaving.
- I instructed the barber to give me a shave .
A thin slice; a shaving.
- (Wright)
(US, slang, dated) An exorbitant discount on a note.
(US, slang, dated) A premium paid for an extension of the time of delivery or payment, or for the right to vary a stock contract in any particular.
-
A hand tool consisting of a sharp blade with a handle at each end; a spokeshave.
Derived terms
* close shave
Anagrams
*
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