Shear, n.
1. A pair of shears; -- now always used in the plural, but formerly also in the singular. See Shears.
On his head came razor none, nor shear. --Chaucer.
Short of the wool, and naked from the shear. --Dryden.
2. A shearing; -- used in designating the age of sheep.
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. --Youatt.
3. Engin. An action, resulting from applied forces, which tends to cause two contiguous parts of a body to slide relatively to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact; -- also called shearing stress, and tangential stress.
4. Mech. A strain, or change of shape, of an elastic body, consisting of an extension in one direction, an equal compression in a perpendicular direction, with an unchanged magnitude in the third direction.
Shear blade, one of the blades of shears or a shearing machine.
Shear hulk. See under Hulk.
Shear steel, a steel suitable for shears, scythes, and other cutting instruments, prepared from fagots of blistered steel by repeated heating, rolling, and tilting, to increase its malleability and fineness of texture.