shearing
shearing Lexical Profile
shearing Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The act or process of cutting or clipping off the wool of sheep or the hair of other animals.
"Spring is the busiest season on the ranch because of the annual sheep shearing."
In physics and engineering, a deformation of a material substance in which parallel internal surfaces slide past one another.
"The geological fault line showed clear evidence of rock shearing caused by tectonic pressure."
Wool, hair, or metal removed by clipping or cutting (usually used in the plural).
"The workers swept up the wool shearings from the barn floor and packed them into bales."
• adjective
Relating to, producing, or resulting from a shear stress or lateral sliding force.
"The civil engineer calculated the maximum shearing force that the steel bolts could withstand."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse 'shearing' (cutting wool or deforming under parallel forces) with the homophone 'sheering' (swerving or deviating from a course).
• Rhymes for shearing
Word Origin & Etymology
From Middle English 'shering', derived from Old English 'sceran' (to cut, cleave, or clip), from Proto-Germanic '*skerana', ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root '*sker-' meaning 'to cut'.