The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sheer \Sheer\, n.
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(Naut.)
The longitudinal upward curvature of the deck, gunwale, and lines of a vessel, as when viewed from the side.
The position of a vessel riding at single anchor and swinging clear of it.
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A turn or change in a course.
Give the canoe a sheer and get nearer to the shore.
--Cooper. -
pl. Shears See Shear.
Sheer batten (Shipbuilding), a long strip of wood to guide the carpenters in following the sheer plan.
Sheer boom, a boom slanting across a stream to direct floating logs to one side.
Sheer hulk. See Shear hulk, under Hulk.
Sheer plan, or Sheer draught (Shipbuilding), a projection of the lines of a vessel on a vertical longitudinal plane passing through the middle line of the vessel.
Sheer pole (Naut.), an iron rod lashed to the shrouds just above the dead-eyes and parallel to the ratlines.
Sheer strake (Shipbuilding), the strake under the gunwale on the top side.
--Totten.To break sheer (Naut.), to deviate from sheer, and risk fouling the anchor.
Usage examples of "sheer hulk".
Then comes the Venus, with the broad pendant, alongside the sheer hulk.
The rope walk and the mast house, the sheer hulk and the smoking chimneys of the biscuit bakery went slowly by.
In harbour an old ship a sheer hulk would be brought alongside, and would employ the two immense spars which constituted her sheers as a crane in which to lift the new mast vertically into the ship.
In harbour an old ship - a sheer hulk - would be brought alongside, and would employ the two immense spars which constituted her sheers as a crane in which to lift the new mast vertically into the ship.
Bush had seen lighters and tenders moving about, and believed he had identified a sheer hulk, a vessel rigged solely for the purpose of putting new masts into large ships.