WORDLE ENGLISH
shear
shear—To remove the fleece from (a sheep, llama, etc.) by clipping.
/ʃɪə(ɹ)/, /ʃɪɹ/, /ʃɛə/
Origin
From Middle English sheren, scheren, from Old English sċieran (“to shear; to shave”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeran, from Proto-Germanic *skeraną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”). Cognate with West Frisian skarre, Low German scheren, Dutch scheren, German scheren, Danish skære, Norwegian Bokmål skjære, Norwegian Nynorsk skjera, Swedish skära, Finnish keritä; and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek κείρω (keírō, “I cut off”), Latin caro (“flesh”), Albanian shqerr (“to tear, cut”), harr (“to cut, to mow”), Lithuanian ski̇̀rti (“separate”), Welsh ysgar (“separate”). See also sharp.
verb
- intransitive, transitiveTo remove the fleece from (a sheep, llama, etc.) by clipping.“shear the llamas”
- To cut the hair of (a person).“shear the afro off someone's head”
- To cut, originally with a sword or other bladed weapon, now usually with shears, or as if using shears.“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, descendin”“the golden tresses […] were shorn away”
- To deform because of forces pushing in opposite directions.
- intransitiveTo change in direction or speed.“The total along-the-runway wind component sheared from an 8-knot headwind to about a 56-knot tailwind over a 44-second period.”
- To transform by displacing every point in a direction parallel to some given line by a distance proportional to the point’s distance from the line.
- intransitiveTo make a vertical cut in coal.
- (also 'shear off') To break or suddenly separate because of excessive force, eg. a bolt.
- ScotlandTo reap, as grain.“Soon as the bending Scythe, And Sickle keen, have shear'd the golden Grain, Array'd in all the Equipage of Death, Forth the stern Sportsman stalks”
- figurativelyTo deprive of property; to fleece.
noun
- countable, uncountableA cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger.“short of their wool, and naked from the shear”
- countable, uncountableA large machine use for cutting sheet metal.
- countable, uncountableThe act of shearing, or something removed by shearing.“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.”
- countable, uncountableForces that push in opposite directions.
- uncountableThe phenomenon of wind shear.“The first effect of a wind shear was detected at 34 to 42 seconds into the takeoff, at a speed of about 115 KIAS with the airplane about 3,800 feet down the runway. An average shear rate of about 2.5 ”
- countableA specific instance of wind shear.“We hit a nasty shear on approach and had to go around.”
- countable, uncountableA transformation that displaces every point in a direction parallel to some given line by a distance proportional to the point's distance from the line.
- countable, uncountableThe response of a rock to deformation usually by compressive stress, resulting in particular textures.
adj
- alt-of, misspellingMisspelling of sheer.
name
- A surname.“Real people in a picture that was used by a catfish to create a fake identity could have a claim because their likeness was used without permission, Shear said.”
Formsshears(present, singular, third-person) · shearing(participle, present) · sheared(past) · shore(past) · shorn(participle, past) · sheared(participle, past) · shears(plural) · Shears(plural)
Appeared In
Duotrigordle Board 22 #92 · July 11, 2026
Daily Puzzle #1838 · July 1, 2026
Duotrigordle Board 4 #3 · April 13, 2026
Daily Puzzle #1013 · March 28, 2024
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