Sheer vs Shyer - What's the difference?
sheer | shyer |
(textiles) Very thin or transparent.
* '>citation
(obsolete) Pure; unmixed.
* Shakespeare
* Shakespeare
Being only what it seems to be; mere.
* 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited,
Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.
Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something.
*
, title=The Mirror and the Lamp
, chapter=2 * 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/nyregion/new-jersey-continues-to-cope-with-hurricane-sandy.html?hp]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):
(nautical) The curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern.
(nautical) An abrupt swerve from the course of a ship.
(chiefly, nautical) To swerve from a course.
* 1899 ,
(obsolete) To shear.
(Webster 1913)
(shy)
Easily frightened; timid.
* Jonathan Swift
Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach.
* Arbuthnot
Cautious; wary; suspicious.
* Boyle
* Sir H. Wotton
Short, insufficient or less than.
Embarrassed.
To avoid due to timidness or caution.
To jump back in fear.
to throw sideways with a jerk; to fling
An act of throwing.
* Punch
* 2008 , (James Kelman), Kieron Smith, Boy , Penguin 2009, p. 55:
A place for throwing.
A sudden start aside, as by a horse.
In the Eton College wall game, a point scored by lifting the ball against the wall in the calx.
As adjectives the difference between sheer and shyer
is that sheer is very thin or transparent while shyer is comparative of shy.As an adverb sheer
is clean; quite; at once.As a noun sheer
is the curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern.As a verb sheer
is to swerve from a course.sheer
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .Adjective
(en-adj)- sheer ale
- Thou sheer , immaculate, and silver fountain.
Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
- Cycling's complex etiquette contains an unwritten rule that riders in contention for a race win should not be penalised for sheer misfortune.
citation, passage=That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired. And if the arts of humbleness failed him, he overcame you by sheer impudence.}}
- Perhaps as startling as the sheer toll was the devastation to some of the state’s well-known locales. Boardwalks along the beach in Seaside Heights, Belmar and other towns on the Jersey Shore were blown away. Amusement parks, arcades and restaurants all but vanished. Bridges to barrier islands buckled, preventing residents from even inspecting the damage to their property.
Synonyms
* (very thin or transparent) diaphanous, see-through, thin * downright, mere, pure, undiluted, unmitigated * (straight up and down) perpendicular, steep, verticalEtymology 2
; see also (m).Noun
(en noun)Verb
(en verb)- A horse sheers at a bicycle.
- I sheered her well inshore—the water being deepest near the bank, as the sounding–pole informed me.
- (Dryden)
References
Anagrams
*shyer
English
Alternative forms
* (l)Adjective
(head)shy
English
Adjective
(en-adj)- The horses of the army were no longer shy , but would come up to my very feet without starting.
- He is very shy with strangers.
- What makes you so shy , my good friend? There's nobody loves you better than I.
- I am very shy of using corrosive liquors in the preparation of medicines.
- Princes are, by wisdom of state, somewhat shy of their successors.
- By our count your shipment came up two shy of the bill of lading amount.
- It is just shy of a mile from here to their house.
See also
* bashful * reserved * timid * demure * coyUsage notes
* Often used in combination with a noun to produce an adjective or adjectival phrase. * Adjectives are usually applicable to animals (leash-shy'' "shy of leashes" or ''head shy "shy of contact around the head" (of horses)) or to children.Synonyms
* See alsoAntonyms
* brazen * bold * audaciousDerived terms
(terms derived using shy as suffix) * -shy * bird-shy * boy-shy * car-shy * cat-shy * camera-shy * cover-shy * girl-shy * gun-shy * hand-shy * man-shy * mouse-shy * noise-shy * people-shy * water-shy * woman-shy * work-shyVerb
- I shy away from investment opportunities I don't understand.
- The horse shied''' away from the rider, which startled him so much he '''shied away from the horse.
- to shy''' a stone; to '''shy a slipper
Noun
(shies)- (Thackeray)
- If Lord Brougham gets a stone in his hand, he must, it seems, have a shy at somebody.
- The game had started. A man was chasing the ball, it went out for a shy .
- coconut shy