v.
(past part. shorn or sheared)
- cut the wool off (a sheep or other animal).
▸cut off with scissors or shears.
▸
(be shorn of)
have something cut off.
- break off or cause to break off, owing to a structural strain.
n.
a strain produced by pressure in the structure of a substance, when its layers are laterally shifted in relation to each other.
Derivative
Usage
On the confusion of shear and sheer, see usage at sheer2.
Etymology
OE sceran, of Gmc origin, from a base meaning ‘divide, shear, shave’.