shear

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“
And that unusual wind shear, which is fueled by large temperature contrasts between sea and land, can also lead to erratic storm tracks.

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Definitions (45)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (15)

  1. transitive verb To remove (fleece or hair) by cutting or clipping.
  2. transitive verb To remove the hair or fleece from.
  3. transitive verb To cut with or as if with shears: shearing a hedge.
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Examples (50)

  • There's turbulence when you pass through the point of highest wind shear, around 35,000-37,000 feet. —  Omni: August 1994
  • There was never a gash or a shear-mark, the fleeces dropped plumply beside the stools, and the sheep, no longer dingy and weathered but a dazzling white, were as evenly trimmed as if they had been fine women in the hands of a coiffeur. —  THE ISLAND OF SHEEP
  • Wind shear -- the difference in wind speed at different levels of the atmosphere -- can tear storms apart. —  Caribbean Net News Daily Headlines
  • The sound's dissipation is caused by viscous shear, in which oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the air carried by a sound wave suffer friction as they pass through the honeycomb's micron-scale diameter tunnels, reducing the pressure and, thus, the decibel level. —  HEADLINES
  • Georgia Green Stamper: P.S. I think Elizabeth Maddox Roberts 'prose is worth reading for the shear beauty of the words - plot or no. —  Sherry Chandler
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

shear:   sheared ·  shearing ·  shorn
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English scheren, from Old English sceran; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots. N., from Middle English shere, from Old English scēar; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English sheren, scheren, sceren (preterit shar, schar, schare, scar, past participle schoren, schorn, schore), from Anglo-Saxon sceran, sciran (preterit seær, plural scǣron, past participle scoren), shear, clip, cut, = OFries. skera, schera = Dutch scheren = Middle Low German Low German scheren = Old High German sceran, Middle High German schern, German scheren = Icelandic skera = Swedish skära = Danish skjære, shear, cut; prob. = Greek κείρειν (for *σκείρειν), shear, from √ skar = Latin scur-, cut, in curtus (for * scurtus), short (see short). From shearor its orig. form are ult. English share, share, shared, shard, shard, scar, score, perhaps scare, shear, shears, sheer, shred, shore, etc.
  2. (shear, n. Cf. share.
  3. from Middle English shere, schere, from Anglo-Saxon sceara (also in early glosses scercro, sceruru) (= OFries. skere, schere = Dutch schaar = Old High German skār, skāra, plural scāri, Middle High German schære (prob. plural), German scheere, schere = Icelandic skæri, shears; cf. Swedish skära, a reaping-hook, Danish skjær, skjære, plow-share, colter), from sceran (preterit scær), shear see shear. Cf. share.
 

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/ʃir/
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