Sheer, adv. Clean; quite; at
once. [Obs.] Milton.
Sheer, v. t. [See Shear.] To
shear. [Obs.] Dryden.
Sheer, v. i. [imp. & p.
p. Sheered (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Sheering.] [D. sheren to shear, cut, withdraw, warp. See
Shear.] 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.
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.
Cooper.
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. Totten. -- To break sheer
(Naut.), to deviate from sheer, and risk fouling the
anchor.
Sheer (?), a. [OE. shere,
skere, pure, bright, Icel. sk?rr; akin to
skīrr, AS. scīr, OS. skīri,
MHG. schīr, G. schier, Dan. sk?r, Sw.
skär, Goth. skeirs clear, and E. shine.
√157. See Shine, v. i.]
1. Bright; clear; pure; unmixed.
"Sheer ale." Shak.
Thou sheer, immaculate, and silver
fountain.
Shak.
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." De
Quincey.
It is not a sheer advantage to have several
strings to one's bow.
M. Arnold.
4. Stright up and down; vertical;
prpendicular.
A sheer precipice of a thousand
feet.
J. D. Hooker.
It was at least
Nine roods of sheer ascent.
Wordsworth.