Refine this word faster
Sheer
Definitions
- 1 Very thin or transparent.
"Her light, sheer dress caught everyone’s attention."
- 2 Pure in composition; unmixed; unadulterated. obsolete
"If she say I am not fourteen pence on the score for sheer ale, score me up for the lying’st knave in Christendom."
- 3 Downright; complete; pure. broadly
"I think it is sheer genius to invent such a thing."
- 4 Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something.
"The army's sheer size made it impossible to resist."
- 5 Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.
"It was a sheer drop of 180 feet."
- 1 complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers wordnet
- 2 very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front wordnet
- 3 not mixed with extraneous elements wordnet
- 4 so thin as to transmit light wordnet
- 1 Clean; completely; at once. archaic
"Hector the ashen lance of Ajax smote / With his broad faulchion, at the nether end, / And lopp’d it sheer."
- 1 completely and at once wordnet
- 2 straight up or down without a break wordnet
- 1 A surname.
- 1 A sheer curtain or fabric.
"Use sheers to maximize natural light."
- 2 The curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern.
- 3 An abrupt swerve from the course of a ship.
- 1 To swerve from a course.
"I sheered her well inshore—the water being deepest near the bank, as the sounding–pole informed me."
- 2 cause to sheer wordnet
- 3 Obsolete spelling of shear. alt-of, obsolete
"So thick, our navy scarce could sheer their way"
- 4 turn sharply; change direction abruptly wordnet
Etymology
From Middle English shere, scheere, schere, skere, from Old English sċǣre (“pure, sheer; shining, clear”), from Proto-Germanic *skairiz; supplanted the semantically close shire (dialectal), from Middle English schyre, schire, shire, shir, from Old English sċīr (“clear, bright; brilliant, gleaming, shining, splendid, resplendent; pure”), beside which existed Middle English skyr, from Old Norse skírr (“pure, bright, clear”), both from Proto-Germanic *skīriz (“pure, sheer”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₁y- (“luster, gloss, shadow”). Cognate with Danish skær, German schier (“sheer”), German Low German schier (“sheer, pure, unadulterated”; “completely, almost”), Dutch schier (“almost”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐍃 (skeirs, “clear, lucid”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian hir (“grace, beauty; goodwill”).
From Middle English shere, scheere, schere, skere, from Old English sċǣre (“pure, sheer; shining, clear”), from Proto-Germanic *skairiz; supplanted the semantically close shire (dialectal), from Middle English schyre, schire, shire, shir, from Old English sċīr (“clear, bright; brilliant, gleaming, shining, splendid, resplendent; pure”), beside which existed Middle English skyr, from Old Norse skírr (“pure, bright, clear”), both from Proto-Germanic *skīriz (“pure, sheer”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₁y- (“luster, gloss, shadow”). Cognate with Danish skær, German schier (“sheer”), German Low German schier (“sheer, pure, unadulterated”; “completely, almost”), Dutch schier (“almost”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐍃 (skeirs, “clear, lucid”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian hir (“grace, beauty; goodwill”).
From Middle English shere, scheere, schere, skere, from Old English sċǣre (“pure, sheer; shining, clear”), from Proto-Germanic *skairiz; supplanted the semantically close shire (dialectal), from Middle English schyre, schire, shire, shir, from Old English sċīr (“clear, bright; brilliant, gleaming, shining, splendid, resplendent; pure”), beside which existed Middle English skyr, from Old Norse skírr (“pure, bright, clear”), both from Proto-Germanic *skīriz (“pure, sheer”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₁y- (“luster, gloss, shadow”). Cognate with Danish skær, German schier (“sheer”), German Low German schier (“sheer, pure, unadulterated”; “completely, almost”), Dutch schier (“almost”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐍃 (skeirs, “clear, lucid”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian hir (“grace, beauty; goodwill”).
Perhaps from Dutch scheren (“to move aside, skim”); see also shear.
Perhaps from Dutch scheren (“to move aside, skim”); see also shear.
See also for "sheer"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: sheer