Definition of: shear

(shir) noun
1. A two–bladed cutting instrument: obsolete except in the plural. See SHEARS.
2. Physics A deformation of a solid body, equivalent to a sliding over each other of adjacent laminar elements, with a progressive relative displacement: also shearing stress.
3. The act or result of shearing.
4. A plowshare.
5. Naut. Sweep; sheer.
—v. sheared (Archaic shore), sheared or shorn, shear·ing v.t.
1. To cut the hair, fleece, etc., from.
2. To remove by cutting or clipping: to shear wool.
3. To deprive; strip, as of power or wealth.
4. To cut or clip with shears or other sharp instrument: to shear a cable.
5. Dial. To reap, as grain, with a sickle.
—v.i.
6. To use shears or other sharp instrument.
7. To slide or break from a shear (def. 2).
8. To proceed by or as by cutting a way: with through.
9. Dial. To reap with a sickle. See synonyms under CUT ♦ Homophone: sheer. [OE scēara scissors <sceran shear. Akin to SHARD, SHARE.]
—shear′er noun