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Shear vs Snip - What's the difference?

shear | snip |

As verbs the difference between shear and snip

is that shear is to cut, originally with a sword or other bladed weapon, now usually with shears, or as if using shears while snip is to cut with short sharp actions, as with scissors.

As nouns the difference between shear and snip

is that shear is a cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger while snip is the act of snipping; cutting a small amount off of something.

As an adjective shear

is misspelling of lang=en.

shear

English

(wikipedia 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)
  • snip

    English

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To cut with short sharp actions, as with scissors.
  • I don't want you to take much hair off; just snip my mullet off.
  • To reduce the price of a product, to create a snip.
  • To break off; to snatch away.
  • * Daniel Defoe
  • The captain seldom ordered anything out of the ship's stores but I snipped some of it for my own share.
  • (informal) To circumcise.
  • * 2001 , David Cohen, The Father's Book: Being a Good Dad in the 21st Century , John WIley & Sons Ltd (2001), ISBN 0470841338, page 72:
  • Circumcised fathers face a special problem. Do you want your son's willy to be that radically different from your own? So, parents should perhaps not be put off. Be good to your son's future lovers and have him snipped .
  • * 2008 , Ilene Schneider, Talk Dirty Yiddish: Beyond Drek: The Curses, Slang, and Street Lingo You Need to Know When You Speak Yiddish , Adams Media (2008), ISBN 9781598698565, page 150:
  • His children, however, were not snipped , possibly because Princess Diana was opposed to the practice, which is out of fashion in England.
  • * 2012 , Tom Hickman, God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis , Square Peg (2012), ISBN 9780224095532, page 144:
  • By the outbreak of the First World War such claims had diminished and the medical profession touted circumcision as being 'hygienic' — fathers were not only encouraged to have their newborn sons snipped , but to belatedly enjoy the benefits themselves.
  • *
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of snipping; cutting a small amount off of something.
  • Something acquired for a low price; a bargain.
  • That wholesale lot on eBay was a snip at $10
  • A small amount of something; a pinch.
  • A vasectomy.
  • A small or weak person, especially a young one.
  • * 2010 — Ellen Renner, Castle of Shadows , Hachette UK, 2010 ISBN 1408313723.
  • 'Might as well come out now, you little snip, from wherever you be hiding!'
  • (obsolete) A share or portion; a snack.
  • (rfquotek, L'Estrange)
  • (obsolete, slang) A tailor.
  • (Nares)
    (Charles Kingsley)

    Derived terms

    * snipper * snippy

    Anagrams

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