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Definition of Sheer
1. Verb. Turn sharply; change direction abruptly. "The motorbike veered to the right"
Generic synonyms: Turn
Specialized synonyms: Peel Off, Yaw
Derivative terms: Curve, Curve, Swerve, Swerve, Swerving, Trend, Veering
2. Adjective. Complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers. "Sheer stupidity"
Similar to: Complete
Derivative terms: Absoluteness
3. Adverb. Straight up or down without a break.
4. Verb. Cause to sheer. "She sheered her car around the obstacle"
5. Adjective. Not mixed with extraneous elements. "Not an unmixed blessing"
6. Adverb. Directly. "He fell sheer into the water"
7. Adjective. Very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front. "A sheer descent of rock"
8. Adjective. So thin as to transmit light. "Vaporous silks"
Similar to: Thin
Derivative terms: Cobweb, Film, Gauze, Transparency, Transparentness
Definition of Sheer
1. a. Bright; clear; pure; unmixed.
2. adv. Clean; quite; at once.
3. v. t. To shear.
4. v. i. 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.
5. n. The longitudinal upward curvature of the deck, gunwale, and lines of a vessel, as when viewed from the side.
Definition of Sheer
1. Adjective. (context: textiles) Very thin or transparent. ¹
2. Adjective. Pure; unmixed; being only what it seems to be. ¹
3. Adjective. Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular. ¹
4. Adjective. Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something. ¹
5. Adverb. (archaic) clean; quite; at once. ¹
6. Noun. (nautical) The curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern. ¹
7. Noun. (nautical) An abrupt swerve from the course of a ship. ¹
8. Verb. (nautical) To swerve from a course. ¹
9. Verb. (obsolete) To shear. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Sheer
1. of very thin texture [adj SHEERER, SHEEREST] : SHEERLY [adv] / to swerve [v -ED, -ING, -S] - See also: swerve
Medical Definition of Sheer
1. 1. Bright; clear; pure; unmixed. "Sheer ale." "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." "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) Origin: OE. Shere, skere, pure, bright, Icel. Skrr; akin to skirr, AS. Scir, OS. Skiri, MHG. Schir, G. Schier, Dan. Skr, Sw. Skar, Goth. Skeirs clear, and E. Shine. See Shine. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Sheer Pictures
Click the following link to bring up a new window with an automated collection of images related to the term: Sheer Images
Lexicographical Neighbors of Sheer
Literary usage of Sheer
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Maxfield Parrish, Frederic Remington, Newell Convers Wyeth (1908)
"... Sei/ed the huge rock in his fingers, Tore it from its deep foundation, Poised
it in the air a moment, Pitched it sheer into the river, sheer into the ..."
2. Practical Shipbuilding: A Treatise on the Structural Design and Building of by A. Campbell Holms (1918)
"The sheer is measured by the height of the mean ordinate, ... The standard mean
sheer, in the case of vessels having a forecastle of standard height, ..."
3. The Iliad of Homer by Homer, John Graham Cordery (1871)
"... sheer The shoulder from the throat and neck and back. 180 These leaving, fast
he followed on the steps Of Abas and ..."
4. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1918)
"Bulkheads are next concreted and the boat finished with a wooden sheer strake
and gunwale. In 1917 a concrete lighter was built at Pors- grund, Norway, ..."
Other Resources Relating to: Sheer
