SHEARS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shears mean? 

• SHEARS (noun)
  The noun SHEARS has 1 sense:

1. large scissors with strong blades

  Familiarity information: SHEARS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHEARS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Large scissors with strong blades

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("shears" is a kind of...):

pair of scissors; scissors (an edge tool having two crossed pivoting blades)

Domain usage:

plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shears"):

clipper (shears for cutting grass or shrubbery (often used in the plural))

pruning shears (shears with strong blades used for light pruning of woody plants)

snips; tinsnips ((plural) hand shears for cutting sheet metal)

thinning shears (shears with one serrate blade; used for thinning hair)

Derivation:

shear (cut with shears)

shear (shear the wool from)

 Context examples 

At the end of an hour the single and double blocks came together at the top of the shears.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

This difference stretches and shears the bright knots, producing light and dark lanes in the disk.

(NASA Visualization Shows a Black Hole’s Warped World, NASA)

So Oz brought a pair of tinsmith's shears and cut a small, square hole in the left side of the Tin Woodman's breast.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

There again was a bearded brother with a broad-headed axe and a bundle of faggots upon his shoulders, while beside him walked another with the shears under his arm and the white wool still clinging to his whiter gown.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And I wondered if she, too, felt it, as we walked along the deck side by side to where the stalled foremast hung in the shears.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I was acquiring more confidence in myself and more confidence in the possibilities of windlasses, shears, and hoisting tackles.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

We were very comfortable, and the inadequate shears, with the foremast suspended from them, gave a business-like air to the schooner and a promise of departure.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

On this night, sleeping under my beloved shears, I was aroused by his footsteps on the deck.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I had solved the problem which had arisen through the shortness of the shears.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I profited by my lesson learned through raising the shears and then climbing them to attach the guys.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)