shear(1) (iou) and appreciative (iou)

shear(1) (iou)

shear noun1.

I.
a. In pl. (treated as sing. or pl.) & sing. Orig. (now Scot. & dial.), scissors. Later spec., any of various large clipping or cutting instruments operating (manually or mechanically) by the simultaneous action of two blades on opposite sides of the material to be cut, used esp. in tailoring, Gardening, and sheep-shearing. OE.
pinking shears: see PINKING noun1.
T. Okey The ends..are now cut off by the shears. P. D. James Seed trays, pruning shears, a trowel and small fork.
b. The weapon used by Atropos, one of the three Fates in Greek mythology, for severing the thread of life. Chiefly literary. L16.
Milton Comes the blind Fury with th'abhorred shears, And slits the thin spun life.
c. Either of the blades of a pair of shears. L18.
A knife; a scythe. Long rare or obsolete. LME.
In pl. Something resembling a pair of shears in function or shape; spec. a crustacean's claws. E16-E18.
In pl. (treated as sing. or pl.) A lifting apparatus for heavy gear, consisting of a hoisting tackle supported by two or more poles held in a sloping position by guys and fastened together at the top, and with their lower ends separated as a base and secured, used esp. on board ship and in dockyards and mines. E17.
In pl. (treated as sing.) Any of several small noctuid moths with grey and white markings, esp. Hada nana. Usu. with specifying word. M19.
II.
The action or an act of shearing, esp. sheep; the result of this, esp. the quantity of wool shorn from a sheep at one time, a fleece. (Freq. with a preceding number indicating the number of times a sheep has been shorn as a statement of its age.) Now chiefly Scot. & dial. OE.
a. Physics & Mechanics. A kind of strain consisting in a movement of planes within a body that are parallel to a particular plane, in a direction parallel to that plane, their displacement being proportional to their distances from that plane. Also, the stress caused in a body which undergoes such strain. M19.
b. Geometry. The transformation produced in a plane figure by motion in which all the points of the figure describe paths parallel to a fixed axis and proportional in length to their distance from it. L19.
Geology. Transverse compression on a mass of rock, resulting in alteration of structure or breach of continuity. L19.
Comb.: shear board Hist. a padded board over which cloth was stretched for cropping with shears; shear centre the point in the plane of a section of a structural member through which a shear force can be applied without producing torsion; shear flow: which is accompanied by or occurs under the influence of a shearing force; shear force: produced by a shear stress; shear-head the upper part of a lifting apparatus for heavy gear (sense 4 above); shear-hook Nautical a sickle-shaped hook intended to destroy the enemy's rigging; shear-hulk: see SHEER-HULK; shear-legs a device consisting of three poles of wood or iron bolted together at their upper ends and extended below, carrying tackle for raising heavy weights for machinery (cf. sense 4 above); shear mark a mark on a hide or fleece made when clipping an animal; shear plane Geology a boundary surface between bodies of rock or ice which have experienced relative motion parallel to the surface; shear steel blister steel improved in quality by reheating and rolling pieces together; shear strength = SHEARING strength; shear stress = SHEARING stress; shear-thickening noun & adjective (the property of) becoming more viscous when subjected to shear; shear wave an elastic wave in a solid which vibrates transversely to the direction of propagation; an S-wave.
? Rare in branch II before E17.

appreciative (iou)

appreciative adjective. Also appretiative. L17.
[from APPRECIATE + -IVE.]
Involving (esp. sympathetic) estimation, understanding; showing adequate or great appreciation, grateful.
? Rare before M19.
appreciatively adverb M17.
appreciativeness noun M19.

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