: an action or stress resulting from applied forces that causes or tends to cause two contiguous parts of a body to slide relatively to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact. Verb The …

1. To remove (fleece or hair) by cutting or clipping. 2. To remove the hair or fleece from. 3. To cut with or as if with shears: shearing a hedge. 4. To divest or deprive as if by cutting: The prisoners were shorn …

SHEARING definition: 1. the activity of cutting the wool off a sheep: 2. the process of cutting the hair on a person's…. Learn more.

One careful handful at a time, he began cutting off his hair, shearing it off as close to his scalp as he could.

Dec 8, 2025 · shearing (countable and uncountable, plural shearings) The act or operation of clipping with shears or a shearing machine, as the wool from sheep, or the nap from cloth.

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Definition of shear verb in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

There are six meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun shearing, one of which is labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

sheared, sheared, shorn, shearing to cut or cut through something with a sharp instrument. to progress by or as if by cutting. The cruiser sheared through the water. Mechanics, Geology. to become …

Animal Husbandry to remove (hair, wool, etc.) from (an animal) by or as if by cutting:[~ + object] to shear wool from sheep. [~ + object] to break (a wing of a plane) by great pressure from force parallel to it: …