▪ I. sheer, n.1 Naut.
(ʃɪə(r))
Also 7, 9 shear, 8 shere.
[f. sheer v.2]
1. An abrupt divergence or deviation of a vessel from the line of her course; a swerve.
| 1670 Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1694) 61, I was in danger of running the Ship against steep Rocks..she taking a shear with the Tide. 1725 Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 425 A Ship before the Wind will deviate from her true Course, sometimes one Way, sometimes another, in her Yaws and Sheers. 1827 J. F. Cooper Prairie II. xvi. 254 Just give the boat a sheer towards yonder low, sandy point. 1849 W. S. Mayo Kaloolah i. (1850) 14 The steersman was directed to put the helm up, in order to give her a sheer out of the way. 1897 Times 25 Feb. 11 The heavy sheers which such a [rudderless] vessel would take in being towed. |
b. sheer-off: an act of sheering off (see sheer v.2 1).
| 1808 Naval Chron. XX. 450 This caused such great confusion among them that they got their grapplings unhooked, and took a broad sheer-off. |
2. An oblique position given to or taken by a vessel when under way or when riding at single anchor.
to break her sheer: of a vessel, to be forced by change of wind or current out of the position of sheer in which she was placed.
| 1794 Rigging & Seamanship II. 247* To break her sheer. a 1797 H. Taylor in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 370/2 If laying in the aforesaid position, and she breaks her sheer..[and] recovers.., let the main-yard be again braced about; but if she comes to a sheer the other way..brace the fore⁓yard to. 1865 Cornh. Mag. Apr. 465 To prevent this, an able master will endeavour to make his vessel ‘lie with a sheer’. Ibid., Great care is required in watching the vessel in this position, lest it should fall off or ‘break its sheer’. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v. |
3. Comb.: sheer-boom Lumbering, a boom to catch floating logs and turn them in the desired direction; sheer-line, in military bridges, the stretched hawser of a flying bridge along which the boat passes.
| 1816 H. Douglas Milit. Bridges 44 A cable, or sheer line, is stretched across the river. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Sheer-boom. 1879 Lumberman's Gaz. 1 Oct., A row of piers to which they have attached a sheer-boom 2,500 feet long. |
▪ II. sheer, n.2 Naut.
(ʃɪə(r))
Also 8 shere, 9 shear.
[Perh. a use of shear n.2, or new formation on shear v. It is noteworthy that the Fr. synonym is tonture (in Fournier Hydrogr. ed. 2, 1667), app. identical with tonture shearing, clipping.]
1. The fore-and-aft upward curvature or rise of the deck or bulwarks of a vessel; the curve of the upper line of a vessel as shown in vertical section.
straight sheer or little sheer, a hardly noticeable rise at the bow and stern. quick sheer, high sheer, or great sheer: a sheer with small radius of curvature.
| 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 121 The section of..the whole Ship..included between the Plank-sheering, and the Keels, the upper line of which section is called the Sheer of the Ship. 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 50 The quicker the Sheer is the more it contributes to the strength of the ship. 1779 Barnard in Phil. Trans. LXX. 101, I found her perfectly upright, and her shere (or side appearance) the same as when first built. 1833 T. Richardson Merc. Mar. Archit. 1 They likewise should have more sheer in proportion to their length than larger vessels. 1878 W. H. Bishop Voy. Paper Canoe 105 Her great sheer, full bow, and smoothness of hull..kept her from swamping. 1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 5 Sept. 2/1 Boats with a high sheer at each end. 1889 Welch Text-bk. Naval Archit. ii. 41 The considerable sheer (or curve upwards) given to their ends. |
2. = sheer-strake (see 3).
| 1841 Dana Seaman's Man. 123 Sheer or Sheer-strake. 1889 R. Dowling Isle Surrey II. xii. 235 His heels, driven by the force of the tide on the sheer of the boat. |
3. Comb.: sheer-batten, (a) see quot.; (b) in ship-building, ‘a strip nailed to the ribs to indicate the position of the wales or bends preparatory to those planks being bolted on’ (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); sheer-built a., built with (little, great, etc.) sheer; sheer-draught (-draft), the sheer-plan; sheer-line, the line of elevation of a ship's deck; sheer-mould (see also quot. 1846); sheer-plan, -rail (see quots.); sheer-strake, the uppermost strake of the side planking or plating of a vessel, also attrib.; sheer-wale = sheer-strake.
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Sheer-batten, a batten stretched horizontally along the shrouds, and seized firmly above each of their dead-eyes, serving to prevent the dead-eyes from turning at that part. |
| 1883 L. Z. Joncas Fish. Canada (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) 11 The boats..are very *sheer built, and the clinker work is usually of cedar. |
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) C 2 b, The whole length of the ship is represented according to a side view, perpendicular to the keel, and is termed the plane of elevation, or *sheer-draught. 1830 Marryat King's Own xlix, The dimensions..I knew by the sheer-draught. |
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 383/2 When it is in its proper position, the line WF will be in the same plane with the *sheer line. |
| 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 245 Ram-line,..a small rope..for forming the sheer of the ship:..adjusted on the ship's side by means of a long thin plank, called the *sheer⁓mould. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Sheer-mould, synonymous with ram-line. |
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 377/2 The *sheer plan or draught, otherwise called the plan of elevation, is that section of the ship which is made by a vertical plane passing through the keel. 1898 Encycl. Sport II. 575/1 (Yachting) The ‘sheer plan’ or longitudinal elevation, showing the lines of length from stem to stern, that is to say, the sheer-line, water-lines, line of keel, and lines of height from keel to gunwale. |
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Rails..are likewise nailed upon several planks along the side; one in particular is called the *sheer-rail, which limits the height of the side from the forecastle to the quarter⁓deck, and runs aft to the stern, and forward to the cat-head. 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict., Sheer-rails, a name for the mouldings round a vessel's top sides. |
| 1805 Shipwright's Vade-M. 130 *Sheer-strake. 1874 Thearle Naval Archit. 102 Sheer strakes are the strakes of the plating (generally outer) which are adjacent to the principal decks. 1882 Daily Tel. 4 May, A vessel whose sheer-strake plate is half above and half below the line of main-deck beams. |
| 1805 Shipwright's Vade-M. 130 *Sheer-wales or Middle-wales, those strakes of thick stuff in the topside of three-decked ships which are wrought between the middle and lower deck ports. |
▪ III. sheer, a. and adv.
(ʃɪə(r))
Forms: 3 scere, 3, 5 schere, 4 schiere, 6–7 shere, sheere, sheare, (? 6 Sc. schare), 7 shier, sheir, 6– sheer.
[ME. schēre:—? OE. *scǽre = ON. skǽr-r (Sw. skär, Da. skjær):—OTeut. type *skairjo-, related to the synonymous *skīro-, shire a. It is possible that the ME. word is an adoption from ON., the initial (sk) being modified to (ʃ) by the influence of the related native adj.]
A. adj.
† 1. Exempt, free (from service or fealty); clear, acquitted (from guilt or crime). Obs.
| c 1205 Lay. 12752 Heo..habbeð iqueðen us scere nu & auere mare. 14.. T. Chestre Launfal 429 Fyfty delyverede prysouns, And made ham quyt and schere. |
† 2. Of the wind: ? Blowing steadily in one direction. (Cf. 9.) Obs.
| c 1290 St. Michael 25 in S. Eng. Leg. 300 Nov was þat a wonder Arewe, and wonder wei heo souȝte..A wonder schere-wynd heo was on. |
† 3. Of hair: Thin, sparse. Obs.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxiii. 252 Alle the Tartarienes han smale Eyen and litille of Berd, and not thikke hered, but schiere. |
† 4. Of light: Bright, shining. Of water, crystal, etc.: Clear and pure; translucent. Obs.
| 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. iv. 47 b, The water was so pure and shere a man might well haue seene And numbred all the grauell stones that in the bottome beene. a 1568 Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 728 Phebus..Vnto the eist schutand his shaftis schare. 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus Dd iij b, The Chrisolites & gems whereof did geue a sheere and shining light. 1587 Golding De Mornay xv. 274 The Soule is either a sheere body and of the nature of the Skye [orig. vn corps luisant et ætheré],..or els a bodilesse substance. 1600 Holland Livy xliv. xxxiii. 1191 Afterward they began to yeeld sheere and cleere water in great aboundance. 1871 Rossetti My Sister's Sleep iv, Without, there was a cold moon up, Of winter radiance sheer and thin. |
† 5. Of an article of food: Thin, not containing much substance. Of an animal: Lean. Obs.
| 1632 Guillim's Heraldry iii. xxiii. (ed. 2) 241 The Moone is the naturall and secondary cause, that the crabbes of the Sea are either full and plumme, or else sheare and (after a sort) empty. 1735 J. Moore Columbarium 39 The Dutch Tumbler is much of the same make, but larger,..not unlike a very sheer Dragoon. 1755 Phil. Trans. XLIX. 342 The skimmed milk is very thin and sheer. |
6. a. Of textile fabrics, etc.: Thin, fine, diaphanous. Chiefly U.S. (exc. of stockings). [Cf. G. schier n., ‘cobweb lawn’.]
| 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. iv. (1567) 49 b, And yet with shere and velume wings [L. perlucentibus alis] they houer from the ground. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 106 Cocke-webbe⁓lawne, or tiffeny, is the sheirest and cheapest lawne of all. 1706 in Halliwell Acc. Collect. Bills, etc. (1852) 31 Shear muslins fit for head dresses and neckcloths. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. xi. 125 They manufacture..in Calicoes coarse and fine, sheer and close wrought. 1848 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Sheer,..applied..to fabrics of cotton or silk; as, sheer muslin; meaning very thin, clear, or transparent. 1904 Daily Chron. 22 Apr. 8/1 So fine (the American girl would say ‘sheer’) is the batiste or lawn used that a slip lining is necessary. 1911 E. M. Clowes On Wallaby viii. 225 America seems to have taken to fashioning her literature with a crimping-iron and ‘sheer-lawn’, while Australia hacks hers out with a billyhook from back-block and Bush. 1934 A. Woollcott While Rome Burns 284 Ravishing French peasant girls with high heels, sheer stockings, and a disposition to say ‘Ooh, la la’ at appropriate intervals. 1951 in M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 95 Ivory Flakes care helps safeguard sheerest nylons. 1977 D. Clarke Gimmel Flask iii. 56 She was..dressed in a tan moygashel suit, sheer nylons on excellent legs. |
b. absol. as n.
| 1934 in Webster. 1937 Jrnl. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 25 Apr. (Advt.), Saucy sheers for budgeteers. 1943 Amer. Speech XVIII. 94 [New Zealand] words like bobby-pin (English ‘kirby-grip’), sheer (dress material), tubables (washable frocks), are taken from American, not English, advertisements. 1952 C. W. Cunnington Eng. Women's Clothes in Present Cent. vii. 257 Stockings..in service sheers, 4/11 to 6/11. 1966 Daily Tel. 26 Oct. 13/3 His curtain sheers..are better than the German Dralon sheers we saw in the shops last winter. 1978 Lancs. Life Apr. 85/1 There is..a new range of Swiss sheers and prints with louvred blinds to match. |
7. a. Of a material substance: Unmixed or unaccompanied with other matter. Esp. of strong drink: (a) Undiluted with water; (b) taken alone without solid food.
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. Ind. ii. 25 If she say I am not xiiii. d. on the score for sheere Ale. 1601 Holland Pliny xxvii. iv. II. 273 Wherof they drinke..the weight of two drams in mead, wine, or sheere water [orig. aqua pura]. c 1618 Fletcher Double Marr. v, Shall I have no sheere wine then? 1625 Massinger New Way iv. ii, Thou neuer hadst in thy house to stay mens stomackes A peece of Suffolke cheese, or Gammon of Bacon, Or any esculent,..but sheere drinke only. 1667 Phil. Trans. II. 548, 2 or 3 spoonfuls of shier water. 1675 Evelyn Terra (1676) 18 Of pure and sheere-Sand, there's white, black, blewish [etc.]. 1755 Connoisseur No. 53. 317 She has the gout in her constitution, and whenever she feels a twitch of it, the only thing is sheer Brandy to keep it from her head. 1764 Museum Rust. I. 463 Sheer and slight sands. 1802 Heberden On Gout in Beddoes Hygėia viii. 154 It has been thought that a large quantity of sheer wine is good for arthritics. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxix, Sheer ale supports him under every thing. 1873 J. Geikie Gt. Ice Age xi. 141 Nothing save sheer till covers the underlying rocks. |
¶ Of steel (? misapprehension of shear-steel).
| 1858 Longfellow M. Standish i. 29 This breast-plate..Had it not been of sheer steel, the forgotten bones of Miles Standish Would at this moment be mould. |
b. Of an immaterial thing: Taken or existing by itself,..alone. Now rare or Obs.
| 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman's d'Alf. ii. 351 When he saw all his former malice could not..doe mee any harme, with sheere money hee went about to purchase out his reuenge vpon mee. a 1646 J. Burroughes Exp. Hosea i. (1652) 16 That what he shall deliver may be nothing but the word of God in him, sheer word of God, without any mixture of his own. 1836 I. Taylor Phys. Theory Another Life ii. 22 An unembodied spirit, or sheer mind, is no where. |
8. a. With a descriptive n., or one denoting a quality, condition, circumstance, etc.: Neither more nor less than (what is expressed by the n.); that and nothing else; unmitigated, unqualified; downright, absolute, pure. Cf. mere a. 4.
| 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus D iij, Which wil be no lesse then sheere beggery. a 1680 T. Goodwin Expos. Eph. xxix. Wks. 1681 I. 388 To go out of himself, and by naked and sheer Faith to go to Jesus Christ alone. 1771 Junius Lett. lxiii. 324 Out of sheer love and kindness to Lord Chatham. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi France & It. I. 99 note, I was always a sheer dunce for my own part. 1837 Thirlwall Greece III. xxiii. 269 The conspirators were not strong enough to carry their point by sheer force. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. iii, Cazalès..said, in a moment of passion, ‘the Patriots were sheer Brigands’. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxxii. 449 Both Peterson and myself..fell asleep through sheer exhaustion. 1879 S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. vi. 145 The railway was closely skirted on the north by a sheer desert. 1885 Manch. Exam. 17 Jan. 5/4 It was a sheer mistake on the part of the driver. |
† b. sheer wit: a fashionable term for some particular form of humour. Obs.
| 1672 Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Rehearsal iii. i. (Arb.) 67 This Scene will make you die with laughing, if it be well acted: it is a Scene of sheer Wit, without any mixture in the world, I gad. [Cf. 71 infra is not this pure Wit?] 1682 Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Ess. Poetry 269 That silly thing men call sheer Wit avoid, With which our Age so nauseously is cloy'd. 1738 Gentl. Mag. VIII. 206/2 The whole Strength of pretended Patriotism lies in Puns, Sheerwit, and a Horse Laugh. |
9. a. Of a descent or ascent, the face of a wall, cliff, etc.: Continued perpendicularly or very steeply down or up without break or halting-place.
| 1800 Wordsw. Hart-Leap Well 50 And climbing up the hill—(it was at least Four roods of sheer ascent). 1815 Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xvi, This lake,..whose barriers drear Are precipices sharp and sheer. 1874 Symonds Sk. Italy & Greece (1898) I. ix. 181 A pedestal of rock..surmounted by a sheer cliff. 1877 Black Green Past. xxxvii. (1878) 298 The great rapids whirling by at our very feet towards the sudden and sheer descent. 1898 Rider Haggard Dr. Therne 25 The precipice, which to our left was quite sheer. |
b. with -down affixed.
| 1864 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xvii. v. (1872) VII. 47 It has cut for itself that mountain gullet, or sheerdown chasm. |
c. Of a fall or drop: Occurring straight down, happening from top to bottom (of a given height).
| 1859 Hawthorne Marb. Faun xviii, Look over the parapet and see what a sheer tumble there might still be for a traitor. |
10. Of a blow (or the like): Delivered with full force; (hit or hitting) straight and hard. poet.
| 1865 Swinburne Atalanta 1295 And charging with sheer tusk he drove, and smote Hyleus. 1876 ― Erechtheus 450 The lord Whose wheels make lightnings of the foam-flowered sea Here on this rock..one sheer blow Struck. |
B. adv.
1. a. Completely, absolutely, altogether, quite. Used chiefly to qualify an adv. or prep., or with vbs. expressing removal, separation, cleavage, etc. (Cf. right, clean.)
| a 1600 I. T. Grim the Collier iv. (1662) 52 A wily Priest..Intends to bear her shere away from all. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burn. Pestle v. i, I..had my feather shot sheere away. 1622 Fletcher Span. Cur. iii. i, The prerogative of your crowns will carry the matter, Carry it sheere. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 742 Thrown by angry Jove Sheer o're the Chrystal Battlements. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Sheer, altogether, quite; as This Fancy is Sheer new. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol ii. 81 Cautious he crept, and with his crooked Bill Cut sheer the frail Support. 1791 Cowper Odyss vii. 113 Sheer from the threshold to the inner house [ἐς µυχὸν ἐξ οὐδοῖο διαµπερές]. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. iii. ix, I ain't a⁓going to be 'quivocal but to speak sheer to the point. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. vii, She vaulted sheer over the turbid current. 1854–5 Longfellow Hiawatha vii, Down the trunk, from top to bottom, Sheer he cleft the bark asunder. 1863 Mrs. Oliphant Salem Chapel xvi, She went sheer forward when the door was open. 1896 Mrs. Caffyn Quaker Grandmother 324 In climbing over a stile, Miriam blundered, and fell sheer into the arms of John. |
† b. Qualifying a numeral: Fully, no less than.
| 1642 H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. iii. 45 That it must fly six hundred thousand sheere Of Germane miles. |
2. Perpendicularly or very steeply up or down; straight up or down without break or halting-place.
| 1829 Scott Anne of G. i, A platform of rock..from the farther side of which a precipice sunk sheer down. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. iii, It rose sheer up above the contiguous roofs. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xxvi, The leaden-coloured lake lying sheer below you. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 681 A lofty cliff, and goes down sheer into the deep sea. 1892 Bierce In the Midst of Life 16 A stone dropped from its outer edge would have fallen sheer downward one thousand feet. |
▪ IV. † sheer, v.1 Obs.
In 3–4 schere.
[f. sheer a.; cf. skere v., shire v.]
1. trans. To clear, free, acquit from blame. In quot. refl.; cf. skere v. 2.
| c 1250 Lutel Soth Sermun 85 (Cott. MS.) in O.E. Misc. 190 Euer heo wile hire schere [Jesus Coll. MS. skere] ne com hire nomon neh. |
2. To make bright or pure.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 165 As glysnande golde þat man con schere. |
3. intr. ? Of water: To run bright and clear.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 107, I wan to a water by schore þat scherez. |
▪ V. sheer, v.2 Naut.
(ʃɪə(r))
Forms: 7–8 shere, 7 shear(e, share, 7– sheer.
[Perh. a use of shear v.; but the development of the sense is obscure.
In MLG. and mod.LG., MHG. and mod.Ger., mod.Du. (but not MDu.) the vb. scheren (etymologically identical with shear v.) often occurs intr. and refl. with the sense to withdraw, depart, ‘be off’ (coincident with sense 1 c below). This sense is commonly regarded by lexicographers as developed from the sense ‘to divide’. The word in continental Teut. does not seem ever to have been in use as a nautical term, so that the common view that the Eng. vb. is of LG. or Du. origin is not convincing. The correspondence between the senses below and the Ger. and Du. senses above-mentioned is not sufficiently exact to warrant the assumption that the course of development has been parallel.]
1. intr. Of a ship: To turn aside, alter its direction, swerve to either side of its course, in obedience to the helm. Chiefly with advs., as off, out, away.
to sheer alongside, sheer to, sheer up, to bear up obliquely towards a vessel or other point.
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 19 Lash fast your graplins and sheare off. 1670 Covel in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.) 104 All ships, if friends, when they meet upon the sea, share up to one another. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 284 The others as they sheared by us, saw no Man above Deck. 1697 Lond. Gaz. No. 3318/3 They both sheered out a-stern of us. 1707 Ibid. No. 4329/5 She ply'd 'em so warmly, that they were forc'd to sheer off. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 83 Our guns..obliged two of them to sheer away again. 1834–5 M. Scott Cruise Midge i. (1836) 6 They sheered-to with an intent to speak him. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. vii. (ed. 2) 267 The second boat of each column is to sheer twenty feet out of the wake of her leader. 1890 Clark Russell Ocean Trag. I. ii. 39 The boat then sheered alongside. 1894 Law Times Rep. LXXI. 103/1 Suddenly changing her course, and sheering back to the south. 1899 F. T. Bullen Log of Seawaif 218 She sheered in towards us. |
b. To swerve to either side irregularly or unsteadily, not in obedience to the helm. Also with round.
| c 1635 N. Boteler Dial. Sea Services (1685) 289 When a Ship in her Sailing is not steddily steered She is said to go Sheering: Also when a Tide-gate runneth very swift, it will cause a Ship to go in and out, and so not straight forward; and this is called Sheering. 1769 [see sheering vbl. n. below]. 1820 W. Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 474 The Esk..continued sheering from side to side to the utmost extent that the rope, by which she was towed, would allow. 1848 Notes of Cases (1849) VI. 7 The brig was sheering, not drudging. 1860 Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 180 The ship then sheered to her starboard anchor. |
c. transf. and fig. Chiefly with off: To change one's course; to depart, go away; to go off in a new direction or on the other ‘tack’.
In quot. 1865 with irreg. pa. tense shore (by confusion with the vb. shear).
| a 1704 T. Brown Volunteer's Sp. to Colonel Wks. 1711 IV. 227, I resolv'd then to shere into the City, to try what luck I could find there. 1710 Brit. Apollo III. No. 14. 2/2 [She] has pickt 15 Guineas out of my Pocket, and shear'd off with it. 1778 [W. H. Marshall] Minutes Agric. 2 May 1776, Letting the points of the coulters hang two or three inches below the shares, to prevent their sheering from side to side. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 30 They..were obliged to sheer off the ground. 1883 C. F. Hoffman Winter Far West (1835) I. 167 Wheeling my horse suddenly from the trail towards a thicket of dwarf oaks,..he sheered from the bush, and I was thrown upon the spot. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xix. v. V. 509 His captains lagged or shore off. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. ix. 165 The history of our English, as compared with the Low-German dialects from which it sheered off in the fifth and sixth centuries. 1876 Green Stray Stud. 118 An age when the interests of popular liberty and of intellectual freedom had sheered off from the church. 1879 Jefferies Amateur Poacher xii. (1889) 235 The sheep..now sheered out from the hedge, and allowed me to go by. |
2. trans. To cause (a vessel) to sheer; to direct (a vessel) obliquely towards a given point. Also with advs., as off.
| 1633 T. James Voy. 83 Shering the Ship, night and day,..amongst the disperst Ice that came athwart of vs. Ibid. 94 We..stood all on the decks to watch the Ices, sheering of the Ship (to and againe), to auoyd it. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 20 We will sheer off our Ship, and hoise out our Shallop. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Anchor To sheer the ship to her Anchor, is to steer the ship's head towards the place where the anchor lies when they are heaving the cable into the ship. 1797 S. James Narr. Voy. 130 The helmsman sheered our ship as close..as it was possible to go. 1816 Sir H. Douglas Milit. Bridges iv. 98 Let the boat be sheered off from the bank..by a cable. Ibid., Whenever a current is so strong as to render it unsafe to sheer a boat across with cables. |
| transf. 1880 FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 456 Here is a good Warwickshire word—‘I sheered my Eyes round the room’. So good that it explains itself. |
† b. to sheer home the anchor: to drag the anchor by swerving. Obs.
| 1644 H. Manwayring Sea-man's Dict. s.v. Shearing, Where a tide-gate runs very swift, the ship will shere in and out, and so much in some places, that they are faine..to steere her upon the tide, for feare she should shere-home her Anchors (that is, draw them home). |
Hence ˈsheering vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. xii. 58 Shearing off will teare it in peeces if the rope and anchor hold. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Sheering, in navigation, the act of deviating or straying from the line of the course, either to the right or left, so as to form a crooked and irregular path through the water. It is commonly occasioned by the ship's being difficult to steer, but very often from the negligence or incapacity of the helmsman. 1896 Kipling Seven Seas 8 We have strawed our best..To the shark and the sheering gull. |
▪ VI. sheer, v.3
(ʃɪə(r))
[f. sheer n.2]
trans. To give (a ship) a particular sheer or rise.
| 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 49 The Shaping of any Ship upwards, termed Sheering of her. 1909 Century Dict. Suppl., To sheer up [aft or forward], to raise the sheer of a vessel. |
▪ VII. sheer, v.4 rare.
(ʃɪə(r))
[f. sheer a.]
intr. Of a rock-face: To rise or descend vertically or very steeply; in quot. with up. Hence ˈsheering ppl. a.
| 1851 G. W. Curtis Nile Notes xxvi. 117 Smoothly sheering precipices below gave Hope no ledge to grasp in falling. 1863 Baring-Gould Iceland 134 The rock sheered up some hundred feet above our heads. |
▪ VIII. sheer(e
see shear, shire.