shears
/ʃɪə(ɹ)z/US/ʃɪɹz/
shears is the plural of shear.
shears is the third-person singular simple present indicative of shear.
Noun
shears
- A tool consisting of two blades with bevel edges, connected by a pivot, used for cutting cloth, or for removing the fleece from sheep etc.
- Near-synonym: scissors
- Cut with a shears using long, even strokes.1974, Phyllis W. Schwebke, Margaret B. Krohn, How to Sew Leather, Suede, Fur, page 20
- Synonyms:
- scissors
- The bedpiece of a machine tool, upon which a table or slide rest is secured.
- the shears of a lathe or planer
- An apparatus for raising heavy weights, and especially for stepping and unstepping the lower masts of ships. It consists of two or more spars or pieces of timber, fastened together near the top, steadied by a guy or guys, and furnished with the necessary tackle. Also sheers.
- Anything resembling a pair of shears in shape or motion, such as a pair of wings.
- two sharp winged Shears, Decked with divers Plumes, like painted Jays, Were fixed at his Back, to cut his airy ways.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
Meaning of shear
Noun
shear (countable and uncountable, plural shears)
- A cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger.
- short of their wool, and naked from the shear1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- shears
- A large machine use for cutting sheet metal.
- The act of shearing, or something removed by shearing.
- 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.1837, William Youatt, Sheep: Their Breeds, Management, and Diseases
- Forces that push in opposite directions.
- The phenomenon of wind shear.
- The first effect of a wind shear was detected at 34 to 42 seconds into the takeoff, at a speed of about 115 KIAS with the airplane about 3,800 feet down the runway. An average shear rate of about 2.5 knots per second resulted in an interruption in acceleration at this point with the airspeed...1985 March 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “2.3 Airplane Takeoff Performance”, in Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 663, Boeing 727-222, N7647U, Denver, Colorado, May 31...
- A specific instance of wind shear.
- We hit a nasty shear on approach and had to go around.
Proper noun capitalized: Shears
Shears
- plural of Shear
Synonyms of shears
Words formed from shears
Phrases with shears
Words that rhyme with shears
Questions about shears
- What does shears mean?
- Shears means a tool consisting of two blades with bevel edges, connected by a pivot, used for cutting cloth, or for removing the fleece from sheep etc.
- What is shears the plural of?
- Shears is the plural of shear.
- What part of speech is shears?
- Shears can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce shears?
- Shears is pronounced /ʃɪə(ɹ)z/ (UK).
Words near shears in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shears (page history and authors); Shears (page history and authors); shear (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-shears.wav.
Cite this entry: “shears.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shears. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.