Clues for the word "SHEAR"

We've had 110 crossword clues used for this word, and seen it 257 times in crosswords. It was last seen in Mirror Mini crossword on April 28, 2026.

Definition of shear

v. t. - To cut, clip, or sever anything from with shears or a like instrument; as, to shear sheep; to shear cloth.
v. t. - To separate or sever with shears or a similar instrument; to cut off; to clip (something) from a surface; as, to shear a fleece.
v. t. - To reap, as grain.
v. t. - Fig.: To deprive of property; to fleece.
v. t. - To produce a change of shape in by a shear. See Shear, n., 4.
v. t. - A pair of shears; -- now always used in the plural, but formerly also in the singular. See Shears.
v. t. - A shearing; -- used in designating the age of sheep.
v. t. - An action, resulting from applied forces, which tends to cause two contiguous parts of a body to slide relatively to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact; -- also called shearing stress, and tangential stress.
v. t. - A strain, or change of shape, of an elastic body, consisting of an extension in one direction, an equal compression in a perpendicular direction, with an unchanged magnitude in the third direction.
v. i. - To deviate. See Sheer.
v. i. - 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.