different between meer vs sheer

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m??(?)/
• Homophone: mere

Etymology 1

See mere.

Noun

meer (plural meers)

1. A boundary.
2. Obsolete form of mere (a lake).

Etymology 2

Adjective

meer (comparative meerer, superlative meerest)

1. Obsolete form of mere.
   • 1720, John Enty, Truth and Liberty consistent

     For, is this more contrary to Scripture […] than 'tis to say, that our blessed Saviour is a meer Man […]

   • 1742, Isaac Watts, Philosophical Essays on Various Subjects

     And so we may have an ever-growing Idea of infinite Number as well as infinite Space or Emptiness, yet it is a meer Idea, and hath no real Existence without us.

Anagrams

• -mere, Emer., Mere, REME, erme, mere, reem

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch meer, from Middle Dutch m?re, from Old Dutch meri, from Proto-Germanic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri.

Noun

meer (plural mere)

1. lake

Synonyms

• pan

Alemannic German

Etymology

From Old High German m?ro, from Proto-Germanic *maizô. Compare German mehr, Dutch meer, Saterland Frisian moor, English more, Icelandic meira, Swedish mera, Gothic ???????????????????? (maiza).

Adverb

meer

1. (Uri) more

References

• Abegg, Emil, (1911) Die Mundart von Urseren (Beiträge zur Schweizerdeutschen Grammatik. IV.) [The Dialect of Urseren], Frauenfeld, Switzerland: Huber & Co., page 64.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /me?r/, [m??r]
• Hyphenation: meer
• Rhymes: -e?r

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch m?re, from Old Dutch meri, from Proto-Germanic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri.

Noun

meer n (plural meren, diminutive meertje n)

1. lake
2. (obsolete, literary) sea

   Synonym: zee

Derived terms

• binnenmeer
• Haarlemmermeer
• IJsselmeer
• Ketelmeer
• kunstmeer
• kustmeer
• Markermeer
• meerkat
• meerkoet
• meerman
• meermin
• strandmeer
• stuwmeer

Descendants

• Afrikaans: meer

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch mêre, from Old Dutch *m?ro, from Proto-Germanic *maizô.

Determiner

meer

1. comparative degree of veel; more.

Derived terms

• meerder
• meertalig
• meervoud

Related terms

• meest

Etymology 3

From Middle Dutch mêer, from Old Dutch m?r. This form stood alongside the older Middle Dutch mêe, from Old Dutch *m?, from Proto-Germanic *maiz.

Adverb

meer

1. anymore, any longer

Hunsrik

Alternative forms

• mëyer, mier (Wiesemann spelling system)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?me??/

Etymology 1

From Middle High German wir, from Old High German wir, from Proto-West Germanic *wi?, from Proto-Germanic *w?z, *wiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy-, plural of *é?h?.

Compare German wir, Pennsylvania German mer, Yiddish ???? (mir), English we.

Pronoun

meer

1. we

Inflection

Etymology 2

From Middle High German mir (“me”), from Old High German mir (“me”), from Proto-Germanic *miz (“me”), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)me-, *(e)me-n- (“me”). Cognate with Old English m? (“me”).

Pronoun

meer

1. stressed dative of ich.

Inflection

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Latin

Verb

meer

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of me?

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From earlier mêe, modified by analogy with the adjective mêre.

Adverb

mêer

1. Alternative form of mêe

Further reading

• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “meer (IX)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN, page IX

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