sheer

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To swerve or cause to swerve from a course.
2. n. A swerving or deviating course.
3. n. Nautical The upward curve or amount of upward curve of the longitudinal lines of a ship's hull as viewed from the side.
4. n. Nautical The position in which a ship at anchor is maintained in order to keep it clear of the anchor.
5. adj. Thin, fine, and transparent: sheer curtains; sheer chiffon. See Synonyms at airy.
6. adj. Completely such, without qualification or exception: sheer stupidity; sheer happiness.
7. adj. Free from admixture or adulterants; unmixed: sheer alcohol. See Synonyms at pure.
8. adj. Considered or operating apart from anything else: got the job through sheer persistence.
9. adj. Almost perpendicular; steep: sheer rock cliffs. See Synonyms at steep¹.
10. adv. Almost perpendicularly.
11. adv. Completely; altogether.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Pure; clear; bright; shining.
2. Uncombined with anything else; simple; mere; bare; by itself.
3. Absolute; utter; downright: as, sheer nonsense or ignorance; sheer waste; sheer stupidity.
4. Straight up or straight down; perpendicular; precipitous; unobstructed: as, a sheer descent.
5. Very thin and delicate; diaphanous: especially said of cambric or muslin.
6. Quite; right; straight; clean.
7. To make pure; clear; purify.
8. An obsolete spelling of shear.
9. Nautical, to swerve or deviate from a line or course; turn aside or away, as for the purpose of avoiding collision or other danger: as, to sheer off from a rock.
10. n. The rise from a horizontal plane of the longitudinal lines of a ship as seen in looking along its side. These lines are more or less curved; when they do not rise noticeably at the bow and stern, as is most common, the ship is said to have a straight sheer or little sheer. See cut under forebody.
11. n. The position in which a ship at single anchor is placed to keep her clear of the anchor.
12. n. The paint-strake or sheer-strake of a vessel.
13. n. A curving course or sweep; a deviation or divergence from a particular course.
14. n. A light scaffold, usually with three inclined legs, on which miners stand in drilling to get above the drill-rod.

Wiktionary

1. adj. textiles Very thin or transparent.
2. adj. Pure; unmixed; being only what it seems to be.
3. adj. Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.
4. adj. Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something.
5. adv. archaic clean; quite; at once.
6. n. nautical The curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern.
7. n. nautical An abrupt swerve from the course of a ship.
8. v. nautical To swerve from a course.
9. v. obsolete To shear.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Bright; clear; pure; unmixed.
2. adj. Very thin or transparent; -- applied to fabrics.
3. adj. Being only what it seems to be; obvious; simple; mere; downright.
4. adj. Stright up and down; vertical; prpendicular.
5. adv. obsolete Clean; quite; at once.
6. v. obsolete To shear.
7. v. To decline or deviate from the line of the proper course; to turn aside; to swerve.
8. n. The longitudinal upward curvature of the deck, gunwale, and lines of a vessel, as when viewed from the side.
9. n. The position of a vessel riding at single anchor and swinging clear of it.
10. n. A turn or change in a course.
11. n. Shears See Shear.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. so thin as to transmit light
2. adj. very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front
3. adv. directly.
4. adj. complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers
5. v. cause to sheer
6. adv. straight up or down without a break
7. v. turn sharply; change direction abruptly
8. adj. not mixed with extraneous elements