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Sheer   /ʃɪr/   Listen
adjective
Sheer  adj.  
1.
Bright; clear; pure; unmixed. "Sheer ale." "Thou sheer, immaculate, and silver fountain."
2.
Very thin or transparent; applied to fabrics; as, sheer muslin.
3.
Being only what it seems to be; obvious; simple; mere; downright; as, sheer folly; sheer nonsense. "A sheer impossibility." "It is not a sheer advantage to have several strings to one's bow."
4.
Stright up and down; vertical; prpendicular. "A sheer precipice of a thousand feet." "It was at least Nine roods of sheer ascent."


verb
Sheer  v. t.  To shear. (Obs.)


Sheer  v. i.  (past & past part. sheered; pres. part. sheering)  To decline or deviate from the line of the proper course; to turn aside; to swerve; as, a ship sheers from her course; a horse sheers at a bicycle.
To sheer off, to turn or move aside to a distance; to move away.
To sheer up, to approach obliquely.


noun
Sheer  n.  
1.
(Naut.)
(a)
The longitudinal upward curvature of the deck, gunwale, and lines of a vessel, as when viewed from the side.
(b)
The position of a vessel riding at single anchor and swinging clear of it.
2.
A turn or change in a course. "Give the canoe a sheer and get nearer to the shore."
3.
pl. Shears See Shear.
Sheer batten (Shipbuilding), a long strip of wood to guide the carpenters in following the sheer plan.
Sheer boom, a boom slanting across a stream to direct floating logs to one side.
Sheer hulk. See Shear hulk, under Hulk.
Sheer plan, or Sheer draught (Shipbuilding), a projection of the lines of a vessel on a vertical longitudinal plane passing through the middle line of the vessel.
Sheer pole (Naut.), an iron rod lashed to the shrouds just above the dead-eyes and parallel to the ratlines.
Sheer strake (Shipbuilding), the strake under the gunwale on the top side.
To break sheer (Naut.), to deviate from sheer, and risk fouling the anchor.


adverb
Sheer  adv.  Clean; quite; at once. (Obs.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Sheer" Quotes from Famous Books



... however, of many Americans, both at home and abroad, that they want to be taken nationally, and not personally, by foreigners. Beyond any other people we wish to be loved by other peoples, even by others whom we do not love, and we wish to be loved in the lump. We would like to believe that somehow our sheer Americanism rouses the honor and evokes the veneration of the alien, and as we have long had a grudge against the English, we would be particularly glad to forget it in a sense of English respect and affection. We would fain believe that the English have essentially ...
— London Films • W.D. Howells
... surprise, Big Olaf rose up and with oaths and leather proceeded to fetch out the last ounce of effort in his animals. It was a spurt that should have been reserved for the last hundred yards instead of being begun three miles from the finish. Sheer dog-killing that it was, Smoke followed. His own team was superb. No dogs on the Yukon had had harder work or were in better condition. Besides, Smoke had toiled with them, and eaten and bedded with them, and he knew each ...
— Smoke Bellew • Jack London
... the table, and threw himself on his bed, uttering a deep sigh, or rather one of those exclamations which we cannot tell whether they arise from discouragement or simply from fatigue. His Majesty's countenance was sad and careworn, nevertheless he slept from sheer weariness for many hours. I awoke him to announce the arrival of M. de Rumigny, who was the bearer of dispatches from Chatillon. In the condition of the Emperor's mind at this moment he seemed ready to accept any reasonable conditions which might be offered him; therefore I ...
— The Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Constant
... drunk sheer madness! Not with wine, But old fantastic tales, I'll arm My heart in heedlessness divine, And dare the road, nor dream ...
— Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece • John Addington Symonds
... the sea and looked towards the cliff. Now he had the palace on his left hand. On his right, not far off, was a high bluff going almost sheer into the sea. Nevertheless, access to the village was possible by the strip of rocks beneath it. Had Hermione gone to the village by the rocks? If she had, Gaspare's keen eyes would surely have seen her. Artois ...
— A Spirit in Prison • Robert Hichens


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