SHEARING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Shearing

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/ʃˈɪrɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Shear v. t. (past sheared or shore;past part. sheared or shorn; pres. part. shearing)

1.

To cut, clip, or sever anything from with shears or a like instrument; as, to shear sheep; to shear cloth. Note: It is especially applied to the cutting of wool from sheep or their skins, and the nap from cloth.

2.

To separate or sever with shears or a similar instrument; to cut off; to clip (something) from a surface; as, to shear a fleece. "Before the golden tresses... were shorn away."

3.

To reap, as grain. (Scot.)

4.

Fig.: To deprive of property; to fleece.

5.

(Mech.) To produce a change of shape in by a shear. See Shear, n., 4.

Shear v. i.

1.

To deviate. See Sheer.

2.

(Engin.) To become more or less completely divided, as a body under the action of forces, by the sliding of two contiguous parts relatively to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact.

noun

Shearing n.

1.

The act or operation of clipping with shears or a shearing machine, as the wool from sheep, or the nap from cloth.

2.

The product of the act or operation of clipping with shears or a shearing machine; as, the whole shearing of a flock; the shearings from cloth.

3.

Same as Shearling.

4.

The act or operation of reaping. (Scot.)

5.

The act or operation of dividing with shears; as, the shearing of metal plates.

6.

The process of preparing shear steel; tilting.

7.

(Mining) The process of making a vertical side cutting in working into a face of coal.

Shearing machine.

(a)

A machine with blades, or rotary disks, for dividing plates or bars of metal.

(b)

A machine for shearing cloth.

See images of 'Shearing'

Etymology of 'Shearing'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Shearing" Quotes from Famous Books

... undisturbed have the benefit of the wool as well as the younglings of the sheep. She was, however, mistaken. When the firstling of the sheep was born, Aaron appeared and demanded it, for the firstborn belongs to the priest. She had a similar experience with the wool. At shearing time Aaron reappeared and demanded 'the first of the fleece of the sheep,' which, according to Moses' law, was his. But not content with this, he reappeared later and demanded one sheep out of every ten as a tithe, to which again, according to the law, he had a claim. This, however, was ...

— THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS VOLUME III BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS - FROM THE EXODUS TO THE DEATH OF MOSES • BY LOUIS GINZBERG

... upheaval. Schmidt of Basel has estimated that from 15 to 20 kilometres of rock covered the materials of the Simplon as now exposed, at the time when the orogenic forces were actively at work folding and shearing the beds, and injecting into their folds the plastic gneisses coming from beneath.[1] The lateral compression of the area of deposition of the Laramide, already referred to, resulted in a great thickening of the ...

— The Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays • J. (John) Joly

... juicy and jostling shock Of bluebells sheaved in May Or wind-long fleeces on the flock A day off shearing day. ...

— Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins - Now First Published • Gerard Manley Hopkins

... that the danger was really at hand without an anxious feeling. His thousand sheep had cost him L250, and his cattle as much more. The lambing season had come and gone, and the flock of sheep had doubled in number. The cattle, too, had greatly increased, and the sheep were nearly ready for shearing. Altogether the value of the stock was over L1000. The loss would not be absolute ruin, as he had still L600 of his original capital in the bank at Buenos Ayres; but it would be ...

— Out on the Pampas - The Young Settlers • G. A. Henty

... Egg, shearing the whisper. "Only Dammy ain't got any sense about cards. I tried to teach him pinochle, but he never could remember none of it, and the hired men always clean him out shakin' dice. He can't even beat his papa at checkers. And that's an awful thing to say ...

— O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1921 • Various

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