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From Middle English sheren, from Old English scieran, from Proto-Germanic *skeraną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‎(to cut). Cognate with West Frisian skeare, Low German scheren, Dutch scheren, German scheren, Danish skære, Norwegian skjære, Swedish skära, Serbo-Croatian škare ("scissors"); and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek κείρω ‎(keírō, I cut off), Latin caro ‎(flesh), Albanian harr ‎(to cut, to mow), Lithuanian skìrti ‎(separate), Welsh ysgar ‎(separate). See also sharp.



shear ‎(third-person singular simple present shears, present participle shearing, simple past sheared or shore, past participle shorn or sheared)

  1. 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
  2. To remove the fleece from a sheep etc by clipping.
  3. (physics) To deform because of forces pushing in opposite directions.
  4. (Scotland) To reap, as grain.
  5. (figuratively) To deprive of property; to fleece.




shear ‎(plural shears)

  1. a cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger
    • Dryden
      short of the wool, and naked from the shear
  2. 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.
  3. (physics) forces that push in opposite directions.
  4. (geology) The response of a rock to deformation usually by compressive stress, resulting in particular textures.

Derived terms[edit]




  1. Misspelling of sheer.