different between frank vs sheer

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?æ?k/
• Rhymes: -æ?k
• Homophones: franc, Frank

Etymology 1

Middle English, from Old French franc (“free”), in turn from the name of an early Germanic confederation, the Franks.

Adjective

frank (comparative franker, superlative frankest)

1. honest, especially in a manner that seems slightly blunt; candid; not reserved or disguised.

2. (medicine) unmistakable, clinically obvious, self-evident

3. (obsolete) Unbounded by restrictions, limitations, etc.; free.

   • It is of frank gift.

4. (obsolete) Liberal; generous; profuse.
5. (obsolete, derogatory) Unrestrained; loose; licentious.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

Derived terms

• frankly

Translations

Noun

frank (plural franks)

1. (uncountable) Free postage, a right exercised by governments (usually with definite article).
   • October 5, 1780, William Cowper, letter to Rev. William Unwin

     I have said so much, that, if I had not a frank, I must burn my letter and begin again.

2. (countable) The notice on an envelope where a stamp would normally be found.

Verb

frank (third-person singular simple present franks, present participle franking, simple past and past participle franked)

1. To place a frank on an envelope.
   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, chapter 20

     It will be so ridiculous to see all his letters directed to him with an M.P.—But do you know, he says, he will never frank for me?

2. To exempt from charge for postage, as a letter, package, or packet, etc.
3. To send by public conveyance free of expense.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Charles Dickens to this entry?)

Translations

See also

• prepay

Etymology 2

Shortened form of frankfurter.

Noun

frank (plural franks)

1. A hot dog or sausage.

   Synonyms: frankfurt, frankfurter

Related terms

• cocktail frank

See also

• sav
• savaloy

Etymology 3

Noun

frank (plural franks)

1. (Britain) The grey heron.

Etymology 4

From Old French franc.

Noun

frank (plural franks)

1. A pigsty.

Verb

frank (third-person singular simple present franks, present participle franking, simple past and past participle franked)

1. To shut up in a frank or sty; to pen up; hence, to cram; to fatten.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?fra?k]
• Rhymes: -a?k

Noun

frank m

1. franc (former currency of France and some other countries)
2. franc (any of several units of currency such as Swiss franc)

Further reading

• frank in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• frank in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Alternative forms

• vrank (archaic, except in the expression vrank en vrij)

Etymology

From Middle Dutch vranc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fr??k/
• Hyphenation: frank
• Rhymes: -??k
• Homophone: Frank

Adjective

frank (comparative franker, superlative frankst)

1. frank, candid, blunt, open-hearted
2. (dated) cheeky, brazen

Inflection

Derived terms

• frank en vrij

Estonian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

frank (genitive [please provide], partitive [please provide])

1. franc

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

German

Etymology

From Middle High German franc, from Old French franc (“free”), of Germanic but eventually uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?a?k/

Adjective

frank (not comparable)

1. (archaic) frank

Usage notes

• Now almost exclusively used in the (also somewhat dated) expression frank und frei.

Declension

Further reading

• “frank” in Duden online

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frank/

Noun

frank m anim

1. franc

Usage notes

Unqualified modern usage typically refers to the Swiss franc.

Declension

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /????/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophone: shear

Etymology 1

From Middle English shere, scheere, schere, skere, from Old English s??re; merged with Middle English schyre, schire, shire, shir, from Old English s??r (“clear, bright; brilliant, gleaming, shining, splendid, resplendent; pure”) and Middle English skyr, from Old Norse skírr (“pure, bright, clear”), both from Proto-Germanic *sk?riz (“pure, sheer”) and *skairiz, from Proto-Indo-European *s??y- (“luster, gloss, shadow”).

Cognate with Danish skær, German schier (“sheer”), Dutch schier (“almost”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (skeirs, “clear, lucid”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian hir (“grace, beauty; goodwill”).

Adjective

sheer (comparative sheerer or more sheer, superlative sheerest or most sheer)

1. (textiles) Very thin or transparent.

2. (obsolete) Pure in composition; unmixed; unadulterated.
   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Induction, scene ii:

     If she say I am not fourteen pence on the score for sheer ale, score me up for the lying’st knave in Christendom.

   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, King Richard the Second, Act V, scene iii:

     Thou sheer, immaculate and silver fountain, / From when this stream through muddy passages / Hath held his current and defiled himself!

3. (by extension) Downright; complete; pure.
   • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

     Cycling's complex etiquette contains an unwritten rule that riders in contention for a race win should not be penalised for sheer misfortune.

4. Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something.
   • 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[4]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):

     Perhaps as startling as the sheer toll was the devastation to some of the state’s well-known locales. Boardwalks along the beach in Seaside Heights, Belmar and other towns on the Jersey Shore were blown away. Amusement parks, arcades and restaurants all but vanished. Bridges to barrier islands buckled, preventing residents from even inspecting the damage to their property.

5. Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.

Synonyms

• (very thin or transparent): diaphanous, see-through, thin
• (pure, unmixed): pure, undiluted
• (downright, complete): downright, mere (obsolete), pure, unmitigated
• (straight up and down): perpendicular, steep, vertical

Derived terms

• sheerly
• sheerness
• sheer-to-waist

Translations

Adverb

sheer (comparative more sheer, superlative most sheer)

1. (archaic) Clean; quite; at once.

Translations

Noun

sheer (plural sheers)

1. A sheer curtain or fabric.

Translations

Etymology 2

Perhaps from Dutch scheren (“to move aside, skim”); see also shear.

Noun

sheer (plural sheers)

1. (nautical) The curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern.
2. (nautical) An abrupt swerve from the course of a ship.

Translations

Verb

sheer (third-person singular simple present sheers, present participle sheering, simple past and past participle sheered)

1. (chiefly nautical) To swerve from a course.
2. (obsolete) To shear.

   • So thick, our navy scarce could sheer their way

Translations

Further reading

• sheer at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “sheer”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

References

Anagrams

• Esher, Herse, Rhees, heers, here's, heres, herse

Burushaski

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?e??]

Noun

sheer (plural sheerisho)

1. lion

References

Sadaf Munshi (2015) , “Word Lists”, in Burushaski Language Documentation Project?^[5].

Middle English

Noun

sheer

1. Alternative form of shere