shear

7 definitions • 5 examples

to cut the wool off a sheep:

The farmer taught her how to shear sheep.

to cut the hair on a person's head close to the skin, especially without care:

He recalled the humiliation of having his hair shorn and exchanging his clothes for the prison uniform.

to have something taken away from you:

The ex-president, although shorn of his official powers, still has influence.

If part of something, especially something made of metal, shears, it breaks into two pieces, usually because of a sideways force:

shear (off) The old screws holding the engine casing had sheared (off).

movement in the plates in the surface of the earth that causes them to change shape or break

to cut off the hair of an animal or a person:

The barber sheared Jim’s hair, just like you’d shear a sheep.

movement in the plates in the surface of the earth that causes them to change shape or break