different between shear vs shave

English

Etymology

From Middle English sheren, scheren, from Old English s?ieran, from Proto-West Germanic *skeran, from Proto-Germanic *skeran?, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”).

Cognate with West Frisian skeare, Low German scheren, Dutch scheren, German scheren, Danish skære, Norwegian Bokmål skjære, Norwegian Nynorsk skjera, Swedish skära, Serbo-Croatian škare (“scissors”); and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek ????? (keír?, “I cut off”), Latin caro (“flesh”), Albanian shqerr (“to tear, cut”), harr (“to cut, to mow”), Lithuanian skìrti (“separate”), Welsh ysgar (“separate”). See also sharp.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???(?)/
  • Rhymes: -??(?)
• (US) IPA^(key): /?i?/
  • Rhymes: -i?
• (near–square merger) IPA^(key): /???/
  • Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophones: sheer, Shia

Verb

shear (third-person singular simple present shears, present participle shearing, simple past sheared or shore, past participle shorn or sheared)

1. To cut, originally with a sword or other bladed weapon, now usually with shears, or as if using shears.
2. To remove the fleece from a sheep etc. by clipping.

3. To cut the hair of (a person)

4. (physics) To deform because of forces pushing in opposite directions.
5. (aviation, meteorology, intransitive) (of wind) To change in direction and/or speed.
6. (mathematics) To transform by displacing every point in a direction parallel to some given line by a distance proportional to the point’s distance from the line.
7. (mining, intransitive) To make a vertical cut in coal.
8. (Scotland) To reap, as grain.

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

9. (figuratively) To deprive of property; to fleece.

Translations

Noun

shear (countable and uncountable, plural shears)

1. A cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger.

   Synonym: shears

   • short of their wool, and naked from the shear

2. (metalworking) A large machine use for cutting sheet metal.
3. The act of shearing, or something removed by shearing.
   • 1837, William Youatt, Sheep: Their Breeds, Management, and Diseases

     After the second shearing, he is a two-shear ram; […] at the expiration of another year, he is a three-shear ram; the name always taking its date from the time of shearing.

4. (physics) Forces that push in opposite directions.
5. (aviation, meteorology) Wind shear, or an instance thereof.

6. (mathematics) A transformation that displaces every point in a direction parallel to some given line by a distance proportional to the point’s distance from the line.
7. (geology) The response of a rock to deformation usually by compressive stress, resulting in particular textures.

Derived terms

• megashear
• shearer
• shearography
• shearwater
• wind shear

Translations

Adjective

shear

1. Misspelling of sheer.

Anagrams

• Asher, Rahes, Share, asher, earsh, hares, harse, hears, heras, rheas, sehar, sehra, share

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: sh?v, IPA^(key): /?e?v/
• Rhymes: -e?v

Etymology 1

From Middle English shaven, schaven, from Old English s?afan (“to shave, scrape, shred, polish”), from Proto-Germanic *skaban? (“to scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *skab?- (“to cut, split, form, carve”). Cognate with West Frisian skave, Dutch schaven (“to shave, plane”), Low German schaven (“to scrape, scratch, shave”), German schaben (“to scrape, shave”), Danish skave, Norwegian Nynorsk skava, Swedish skava (“to scrape, chafe”), Icelandic skafa, Gothic ???????????????????????? (skaban, “to shear, shave”).

Verb

shave (third-person singular simple present shaves, present participle shaving, simple past shaved or (obsolete) shove, past participle shaved or shaven)

1. (transitive) To make bald or shorter by using a tool such as a razor or pair of electric clippers to cut the hair close to the skin.
2. (transitive) To cut anything in this fashion.
   • 1713, John Gay, The Rural Sports

     The labourer with the bending scythe is seen / Shaving the surface of the waving green.

3. (intransitive) To remove hair from one's face by this means.

4. (transitive) To cut finely, as with slices of meat.
5. To skim along or near the surface of; to pass close to, or touch lightly, in passing.
6. To reduce in size or weight.
7. (archaic, transitive) To be hard and severe in a bargain with; to practice extortion on; to cheat.
8. (US, slang, dated, transitive) To buy (a note) at a discount greater than the legal rate of interest, or to deduct in discounting it more than the legal rate allows.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English shave, from Old English sceafa, from Proto-Germanic *skabô.

Noun

shave (plural shaves)

1. An instance of shaving.

2. A thin slice; a shaving.

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

3. (US, slang, dated) An exorbitant discount on a note.
4. (US, slang, dated) A premium paid for an extension of the time of delivery or payment, or for the right to vary a stock contract in any particular.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of N. Biddle to this entry?)

5. A hand tool consisting of a sharp blade with a handle at each end; a spokeshave.
6. (informal) A narrow miss or escape; a close shave.
   • 1919, Edward Frederic Benson, Across the Stream

     " […] I had an awful shave getting into the harbour," remarked Archie.

Derived terms

• close shave

Translations

Anagrams

• haves, sheva

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English sceafa, from Proto-Germanic *skabô.

Alternative forms

• schave, schafe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??a?v(?)/

Noun

shave (plural shaves)

1. A tool used for filing, shaving, or abrasion.

Descendants

• English: shave

References

• “sh?ve, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-02.

Etymology 2

Verb

shave

1. Alternative form of schaven