Category:Sheer

Sheer, a. Etym: [oe. shere, skere, pure, bright, icel. sk; akin to Skirr, as. scir, os. skiri, mhg. schir, g. schier, dan. sk, sw. skär, Goth. skeirs clear, and e. shine. sq. root157. See shine, v. i.]

1. Bright; clear; pure; unmixed. "sheer ale." 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. "a sheer impossibility." 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.

Sheer Sheer, adv.

Defn: clean; quite; at once. [obs.] Milton.

Sheer Sheer, v. t. Etym: [see shear.]

Defn: to shear. [obs.] Dryden.

Sheer Sheer, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sheered; p. pr. & vb. n. Sheering.] Etym: [d. sheren to shear, cut, withdraw, warp. See shear.]

Defn: 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.

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.

Defn: 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.