Definitions for: Sheer


[adv] directly; "he fell sheer into the water"
[adv] straight up or down without a break
[adj] very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front; "a bluff headland"; "where the bold chalk cliffs of England rise"; "a sheer descent of rock"
[adj] not mixed with extraneous elements; "plain water"; "sheer wine"; "not an unmixed blessing"
[adj] so thin as to transmit light; "a hat with a diaphanous veil"; "filmy wings of a moth"; "gauzy clouds of dandelion down"; "gossamer cobwebs"; "sheer silk stockings"; "transparent chiffon"; "vaporous silks"
[v] cause to sheer; "She sheered her car around the obstacle"
[v] turn sharply; change direction abruptly; "The car cut to the left at the intersection"; "The motorbike veered to the right"



Webster (1913) Definition: Sheer, a. [OE. shere, skere, pure, bright, Icel. sk?rr;
akin to sk[=i]rr, AS. sc[=i]r, OS. sk[=i]ri, MHG. sch[=i]r,
G. schier, Dan. sk?r, Sw. sk["a]r, Goth. skeirs clear, and E.
shine. [root]157. 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, adv.
Clean; quite; at once. [Obs.] --Milton.


Sheer, v. t. [See Shear.]
To shear. [Obs.] --Dryden.


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.


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.

Synonyms: bluff, bold, cobwebby, curve, cut, diaphanous, filmy, gauzy, gossamer, perpendicularly, plain, pure, see-through, slew, slue, steep, swerve, thin, transparent, trend, unmingled, unmixed, vaporous, veer

See Also: channelise, channelize, direct, guide, head, maneuver, manoeuvre, peel off, point, steer, turn, yaw

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