English Dictionary: sheer | by the DICT Development Group |
6 results for sheer | |
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: | |
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From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Sheer \Sheer\, adv. Clean; quite; at once. [Obs.] --Milton. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Sheer \Sheer\, v. t. [See {Shear}.] To shear. [Obs.] --Dryden. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Sheer \Sheer\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Sheered}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Sheering}.] [D. sheren to shear, cut, withdraw, warp. See {Shear}.] To decline or deviate from the line of the proper course; to turn aside; to swerve; as, a ship sheers from her course; a horse sheers at a bicycle. {To sheer off}, to turn or move aside to a distance; to move away. {To sheer up}, to approach obliquely. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Sheer \Sheer\, a. [OE. shere, skere, pure, bright, Icel. sk[?]rr; akin to sk[c6]rr, AS. sc[c6]r, OS. sk[c6]ri, MHG. sch[c6]r, G. schier, Dan. sk[?]r, Sw. sk[84]r, Goth. skeirs clear, and E. shine. [root]157. See {Shine}, v. i.] 1. Bright; clear; pure; unmixed. [bd]Sheer ale.[b8] --Shak. Thou sheer, immaculate, and silver fountain. --Shak. 2. Very thin or transparent; -- applied to fabrics; as, sheer muslin. 3. Being only what it seems to be; obvious; simple; mere; downright; as, sheer folly; sheer nonsense. [bd]A sheer impossibility.[b8] --De Quincey. It is not a sheer advantage to have several strings to one's bow. --M. Arnold. 4. Stright up and down; vertical; prpendicular. A sheer precipice of a thousand feet. --J. D. Hooker. It was at least Nine roods of sheer ascent. --Wordsworth. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Sheer \Sheer\, n. 1. (Naut.) (a) The longitudinal upward curvature of the deck, gunwale, and lines of a vessel, as when viewed from the side. (b) The position of a vessel riding at single anchor and swinging clear of it. 2. A turn or change in a course. Give the canoe a sheer and get nearer to the shore. --Cooper. 3. pl. Shears See {Shear}. {Sheer batten} (Shipbuilding), a long strip of wood to guide the carpenters in following the sheer plan. {Sheer boom}, a boom slanting across a stream to direct floating logs to one side. {Sheer hulk}. See {Shear hulk}, under {Hulk}. {Sheer plan}, [or] {Sheer draught} (Shipbuilding), a projection of the lines of a vessel on a vertical longitudinal plane passing through the middle line of the vessel. {Sheer pole} (Naut.), an iron rod lashed to the shrouds just above the dead-eyes and parallel to the ratlines. {Sheer strake} (Shipbuilding), the strake under the gunwale on the top side. --Totten. {To break sheer} (Naut.), to deviate from sheer, and risk fouling the anchor. |