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What is "shears"

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shears
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
shears
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
pinking shears
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Because it is ripstop, and fraying is therefore limited, pinking shears would only be decorative and not at all necessary.
▪ Cattle are raised for slaughter, sheep for the shears.
▪ He picked up a thick pair of cutting shears and trimmed a betel nut.
▪ These shears are not generally available to the public, so take this opportunity to acquire a pair now.
▪ With shears from her basket, the Pysillian trimmed the wick, to steady it.
▪ You will go through our comic, existential garden with your shears and you will never water the lupins.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Shears

Shears \Shears\, n. pl. [Formerly used also in the singular. See Shear, n.,

  1. ] 1. A cutting instrument. Specifically:

    1. An instrument consisting of two blades, commonly with bevel edges, connected by a pivot, and working on both sides of the material to be cut, -- used for cutting cloth and other substances.

      Fate urged the shears, and cut the sylph in twain.
      --Pope.

    2. A similar instrument the blades of which are extensions of a curved spring, -- used for shearing sheep or skins.

    3. A shearing machine; a blade, or a set of blades, working against a resisting edge.

  2. Anything in the form of shears. Specifically:

    1. A pair of wings. [Obs.]
      --Spenser.

    2. 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.

  3. (Mach.) The bedpiece of a machine tool, upon which a table or slide rest is secured; as, the shears of a lathe or planer. See Illust. under Lathe.

    Rotary shears. See under Rotary.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
shears

"large scissors," Old English scearra (plural) "shears, scissors," from Proto-Germanic *sker- "to cut" (cognates: Middle Dutch schaer, Old High German scara, German Schere; see shear (v.)). In 17c., also "a device for raising the masts of ships" (1620s). As "scissors," OED labels it Scottish and dialectal. Chalk is no shears (1640s) was noted as a Scottish proverb expressing the gap between planning and doing.

Wiktionary
shears

n. 1 (plural of shear English) 2 (context plurale tantum English) 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 3 (cx engineering English) The bedpiece of a machine tool, upon which a table or slide rest is secured. 4 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 (term sheers English). vb. (en-third-person singular of: shear)

WordNet
shears

n. (usually plural) large scissors with strong blades [syn: shear]

Wikipedia
Shears

Shears may refer to:

Usage examples of "shears".

In contrast, a food mill shears more cells apart by scraping them across the screen as you turn the handle, but it is possible that our precooking technique will permit the use of a food mill without fear of gumminess and produce a perfectly smooth result at the same time.

With all brushes, when the holes have been properly filled, the ends of the fibres outside are cut with shears, either to an even length or such form as may be desired.

The thirty shearers, running into the nearest pen, dragged each his sheep into the shed, in a twinkling of an eye had the creature between his knees, helpless, immovable, and the sharp sound of the shears set in.

He could hardly have felt less miserable if somebody had sunk a pair of fleecing shears up to their handles in both eyes.

A springy bundle of cypress teetered, then tipped like an unfolding set of shears and swan-dived onto the pavement.

Here was the antlered figure of Guthlac, and the double-faced head of Simyits, a harp for Garin, the patron of harpers, and shears for Dort, the patron of sheepshearers and all in the wool trade.

They marched through the west gate, under a white banner with great yellow shears centered on it.

Ferrault, reverting to his usual cheerful demeanor, pointed out the carved stone sign for Sorellin, shears in a circle on top of a pillar.

Carrying the shears in the same hand he used to clutch the relic, Gilbert walked across the room to where Briana sat on the edge of the gurney.

Briana raised the shears and aimed them at a point between her breasts.

But her muscles tensed in preparation as she aimed the shears at her own heart.

It flew open, and he selected a bandage shears, with a blunt wafer for the lower jaw.

It was amazing how easily and swiftly the shining shears snipped through the crusty rag around the wound.

It almost seemed as though the shears were driving his fingers instead as they scissored a clean, light line through the bandage.

He replaced the shears in their ioop on the extraordinarily big board that the little black bag turned into when it unfolded, and leaned over the wound.