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Crossword clues for tear

tear
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
tear
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a banging/tearing/hissing etc sound
▪ There was an odd buzzing sound in her ears.
be bored to tears/to death (=extremely bored)
▪ Rob was bored to tears trailing around the shops.
bore sb to death/tears (=make them very bored)
break/cut/tear sth in half (=into two equal pieces)
▪ He tore the paper in half.
break/tear down barriers
▪ Most companies have broken down the old barriers of status among the workers.
burst into tears
▪ Claire looked as if she were about to burst into tears.
choked back tears
▪ He choked back tears as he described what had happened.
eyes filled up with tears
▪ Her eyes filled up with tears.
eyes filled with tears
▪ Her eyes filled with tears.
fighting back...tears
▪ She looked away, fighting back her tears.
forced back...tears
▪ Janet forced back her tears.
helpless laughter/rage/tears etc
▪ We both collapsed into helpless giggles.
hold back...tears
▪ She struggled to hold back her tears.
keep back the tears
▪ She was struggling to keep back the tears.
laugh till you cry/laugh till the tears run down your face
▪ He leaned back in his chair and laughed till the tears ran down his face.
moved...to tears
▪ His speech moved the audience to tears.
near tears
▪ A lot of the women were near tears.
on the verge of tears
▪ Jess seemed on the verge of tears.
prickled with tears
▪ My eyes prickled with tears.
pull down/knock down/tear down a building
▪ All the medieval buildings were torn down.
rip/tear sth to bits
▪ She grabbed the letter and ripped it to bits.
sb’s eyes are full of tears
▪ When she put the phone down, her eyes were full of tears.
tear gas (=a gas that stings your eyes, used by the police to control crowds)
▪ Police using tear gas had clashed with protestors.
tear gas
▪ The police used tear gas to break up the demonstration.
tear/rip open an envelope (=open it quickly and roughly)
▪ My fingers trembled as I tore open the envelope.
tear/rip sth to shreds
▪ The clothes were ripped to shreds and covered in blood.
tears of joy
▪ She began to cry again, but they were tears of joy.
tears of rage
▪ Her eyes were now full of tears of rage.
tears well up
▪ I felt tears well up in my eyes.
tore...ligament
▪ He tore a ligament in his left knee.
weep tears
▪ She wept bitter tears of self-reproach.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
hot
▪ In age she recollected the sensation of hot tears mixing with cold rain.
▪ She groaned, as hot tears welled up and wetted both their faces.
▪ Pictures of her parents, memories, flashed through her mind bringing hot scalding tears to her eyes.
▪ A second after I gave him that answer, I felt a flood of hot, salty tears gush down my cheeks.
▪ A sprinkling of hot tears fell on to his exploring lips.
▪ He grimaced, as hot tears gushed from his eyes.
▪ D'Arcy's grip tightened round her shoulders as he felt her hot tears against his skin.
▪ Through a fog of hot tears and slick blood I heard words that at once sounded distant and entirely too close.
■ NOUN
crocodile
▪ You will notice phrases like crocodile tears, the elephant never forgets, and the ostrich burying its head in the sand.
▪ That is why we should regard Labour's albeit genuine crocodile tears as extremely salty.
gas
▪ Riot police ringed the building and fired tear gas at the crowd.
▪ Charlie mixed in some tear gas with the mine.
▪ Hundreds were hospitalized suffering from the effects of tear gas.
▪ A tear gas canister fatally wounded one young demonstrator.
▪ The Washington police fired tear gas at them and the gas was blown at once across the White House garden.
▪ The Army moved in with a water cannon and tear gas, forcing the marchers into hasty retreat.
▪ Bhutto was choked by tear gas earlier when police fired canisters directly at her open-top jeep.
▪ On Sept. 17 reports stated that tear gas was used to halt protests at a Mandalay high school.
■ VERB
blink
▪ She needed to blink away tears.
▪ For a moment the two strangers just stood there holding hands and blinking back their tears.
▪ When she blinked, the tears overflowed and ran back along her cheekbones to her ears, where the swaddling absorbed them.
▪ Touching the welt, Howard tried to blink back tears before going inside.
▪ She blinked away a tear and nodded.
▪ She blinked back the tears and made a fanfare out of unwrapping the gift.
▪ Claudia opened her eyes and blinked away the tears.
▪ I noticed that his hands were trembling slightly, and he seemed to be blinking back tears.
cry
▪ He wanted to cry, but the tears froze on his face.
▪ I cried till the tears all run down in my ears.
▪ I remember crying sentimental tears a few years later in 1987 when I watched on television Neil Kinnock's party political broadcast.
▪ When my sister was upset, she would cry and great piteous tears would roll from her eyes.
▪ Sarah tried to cry and no tears would come.
▪ Yoshimoto, however, is a legitimate storyteller, and avoids the overwrought sentiment that forces a reader to cry unwilling tears.
▪ That night, alone in the room with the coffins, Oliver cried bitter, lonely tears.
fight
▪ It was still tender from the soldier's abuse, but the pain helped her fight back incipient tears.
▪ I find myself fighting back tears as I thank them for coming.
▪ Desperately she fought back the tears, not knowing why they had formed so swiftly.
▪ Shareef Abdur-Rahim fought back tears throughout his statement and parts of the question-and-answer period that followed.
▪ Breathing deeply, fighting sudden fresh tears, she stared at the whitewashed walls of the tiny, tidy yard.
▪ In fact, the chance to show Neely fighting back tears probably became an excuse to return to the topic.
▪ None of it registered, because she was fighting tears that were perilously near.
shed
▪ No doubt I will shed many tears today, as I do every day.
▪ He even shed a few tears.
▪ He shed tears the way a flower sheds petals, they fell to the ground, lay scattered round his feet.
▪ The boys shed a lot of tears as they told police what happened, Capt.
▪ Equally, none of them looked like they'd shed too many tears.
▪ And you may shed a tear or two - for the sheer joy of it all.
▪ But shed no tears for Morris.
weep
▪ And I wouldn't weep tears over it, either.
▪ Spitting icicles and weeping tears of frost, the crucified one wrenched at his adamantine bolts.
▪ Then I began to weep, howling with tears.
▪ Whatever the reason, she wept, heartbroken tears that were almost silent but which tore her apart.
▪ Finally to let her mind slip free of all this chaos, turn her face to the wall and weep slow tears.
▪ You hold the world at arms length while Your heart weeps tears but your lips smile.
▪ There are hundreds of reports of miraculous statues of Mary weeping real tears: some are reported to weep blood.
▪ So she fell upon his grey hairy neck, weeping bright tears.
wipe
▪ She wiped away a tear that had crept unnoticed on to her cheek.
▪ He lifted his hands to wipe away the tears and saw dark brown slime.
▪ Sandoz was, by this time, wiping tears from his eyes and making terrible whining sounds.
▪ His laughter now was ecstatic; he wiped away tears.
▪ She wiped away her tears and glanced around cautiously to see if anyone were staring at her.
▪ I am in it for the side of labor that brings us all together and that wipes away every tear.
▪ Hesitantly, Victoria stood up, wiping the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hands.
▪ I wiped the tears away and shut down the Huey.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a/the/this vale of tears
▪ The world is a vale of tears, a giant ball of dung.
▪ We all know what next occurred-and here we all are, in this vale of tears.
be cut/torn to ribbons
▪ Her feet were cut to ribbons on the rocks.
be torn apart
▪ Before their lives were torn apart, they were a happy family.
▪ He was torn apart as health and social security secretary and suffered demotion before resigning.
▪ He would be torn apart by the difference between the gravitational force on his head and his feet.
▪ In practice instruments could not survive such a journey; they would be torn apart by the increasing gravitational field gradients.
▪ Parents who objected were torn apart as heretics.
▪ The political structures were torn apart until the very foundations were rocked.
▪ The spaceship would be torn apart by infinitely strong forces.
▪ We have players in the league whose families, let alone countries, are torn apart by war.
be torn/split/rent etc asunder
▪ If the momentum picks up, conventional politics could be torn asunder.
▪ In 1964, the Republican Party was torn asunder by the nomination of conservative Barry Goldwater.
▪ The veils are parting, the mists are rent asunder.
▪ This unity was to be rent asunder by changes in technology and by the impact of the Modern Movement in architecture.
blind with tears/rage/pain etc
▪ She turned her back again, her shoulders heaving, her eyes blind with tears.
blink back/away tears
▪ I noticed that his hands were trembling slightly, and he seemed to be blinking back tears.
▪ She needed to blink away tears.
▪ Touching the welt, Howard tried to blink back tears before going inside.
blood, sweat, and tears
bring tears to sb's eyes
▪ His dumb loyalty brought tears to my eyes.
▪ Just remembering it brings tears to my eyes 20 years later.
▪ The pain of the short trip brought tears to my eyes.
▪ The thought of his wasting all that training brought tears to my eyes.
▪ The tune moved through her mind and body, bringing tears to her eyes.
▪ The very word brings tears to your eyes.
▪ They brought tears to her eyes, but tears of pain soon welled up from an overwhelming sense of despair.
▪ This unexpected kindness brings tears to my eyes.
crocodile tears
▪ But far be it for us to shed crocodile tears over the bruised egos of our male counterparts.
▪ So much for the exiles' crocodile tears over Elian's removal.
▪ That is why we should regard Labour's albeit genuine crocodile tears as extremely salty.
▪ They weep crocodile tears for the poor and disadvantaged, but are basically happy with things as they are.
▪ You will notice phrases like crocodile tears, the elephant never forgets, and the ostrich burying its head in the sand.
dissolve into/in laughter/tears etc
▪ Francis and Christopher dissolved in laughter, lapped theirs up and declared it very good.
▪ If he mentioned moving out of her parents' house, she dissolved into tears.
▪ Katherine threw herself against Gary and dissolved into tears.
▪ The waiter bowed and retreated, Stephen and Lily dissolved into laughter.
▪ When at last she is alone, her sorrow overwhelms her and she dissolves in tears.
in floods of tears
▪ I was in floods of tears.
▪ It was surprising that she did not feel embarrassed at being caught in floods of tears.
▪ Jane departed in floods of tears and Rosemary duly arrived, in a very bad temper.
it'll (all) end in tears
pull/rip/tear sb/sth to pieces
▪ And having got under them, he can't half tear them to pieces.
▪ Brandon Thomas opted to unveil his Aunt away from London fearful that the capital's theatre critics would tear it to pieces.
▪ He was thrown from his chariot and his horses tore him to pieces and devoured him.
▪ I had been given the power to obliterate, to steal a body from its grave and tear it to pieces.
▪ If Hyde returns while I am writing this confession, he will tear it to pieces to annoy me.
▪ They will tear you to pieces.
▪ We are lost, for they will surely tear us to pieces with their sharp claws.
reduce sb to tears/silence etc
▪ At mealtimes, Kornemann would rail at his wife in front of the boys, reducing her to tears.
▪ He has in his grasp the ability to reduce anyone to tears, through a snappy headline or lurid story.
▪ Initially, it was the existential absurdity of his predicament that reduced Sooty to silence.
▪ It becomes the subject of innumerable short stories and songs, of films that reduce their audiences to tears.
▪ Outside in her car she kept a tight grip on herself, refusing to let her humiliation reduce her to tears.
▪ She would come home in tears and reduce my wife to tears.
▪ They might stop me having visitors if they think I reduce them to tears.
see sth through a mist of tears
shed tears
▪ I imagine a few tears will be shed at Monica's farewell party.
▪ As the train drew out our dear friends on the platform blew kisses, shed tears and waved their handkerchiefs.
▪ He shed tears the way a flower sheds petals, they fell to the ground, lay scattered round his feet.
▪ I had persevered, and I shed tears more in relief than in pain.
▪ Likewise, when she shed tears for her son, she did it when she was alone.
▪ Richard Simmons sheds tears over them.
▪ She wouldn't shed tears over that ... that brute.
▪ While women were increasingly associated with weakness and emotion, by 1860 men no longer dared embrace in public or shed tears.
smash/rip/tear sth to pieces
▪ And having got under them, he can't half tear them to pieces.
▪ Brandon Thomas opted to unveil his Aunt away from London fearful that the capital's theatre critics would tear it to pieces.
▪ He was thrown from his chariot and his horses tore him to pieces and devoured him.
▪ I had been given the power to obliterate, to steal a body from its grave and tear it to pieces.
▪ If Hyde returns while I am writing this confession, he will tear it to pieces to annoy me.
▪ Telling me the strangest things sometimes, evil things - till I want to shout out or smash them to pieces.
▪ We are lost, for they will surely tear us to pieces with their sharp claws.
tear/rip sth to shreds
▪ And the politicians, thank goodness, have only so much money with which to rip each other to shreds.
▪ Its springtime for President Bill Clinton as he watches his Republican challengers rip each other to shreds.
▪ Other than the chance to rip it to shreds.
▪ The agony of such a torment would tear her to shreds.
▪ They didn't have a humidifier and it's torn my voice to shreds.
▪ They snarled at them as if they were criminals and took their papers as if they'd like to tear them to shreds.
▪ They would have torn Corbett to shreds if the grille had been raised.
▪ Within two years, other researchers had torn it to shreds.
tears spring to/into sb's eyes
▪ Joy went crimson and tears sprang into her eyes.
▪ With that avowal, tears sprang to her eyes, leaving Farini nonplussed.
tug/tear/pull at sb's heartstrings
▪ It pulls at the heartstrings of every agent out there to see a young lady or anyone jeopardized by these conditions.
▪ That night the little creature did not stop crying and its pitiful little squeak tore at Aggie's heartstrings.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ tear-stained cheeks
▪ How did you get that tear in your jacket?
▪ Is that a tear on your face?
▪ There's a small tear near the corner of the painting.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He had had visions, striding back to Bedford Square, of proper love-making, of tenderness, perhaps some tears.
▪ His parents' faces turn ashen when they first see him, then they smile through their tears.
▪ I remember it as if I were still standing there, streaked with blood and dust and tears, talking to her.
▪ I snarled, Josefina added terror to her tears and somehow we got through.
▪ Its last 15 minutes had me right where the filmmakers wanted me, which was in tears.
▪ This time was no different and my master left Syon with the tears streaming down his face.
II.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
apart
▪ Same kind of bloody pain - like people being torn apart.
▪ Numerous nations have not only experienced external threats, but have been torn apart by internal struggle as well.
▪ The play portrays a good marriage torn apart by external forces.
▪ Then suddenly the landmass tears apart.
▪ Indeed, it became increasingly torn apart by sectarian and ideological division.
▪ Ministers lost status and irritated each other as diverse populations tore apart the unity of originally close-knit old towns.
▪ But instead he was feeling torn apart by his own emotions.
▪ The wind began howling as if it were a living thing some one was tearing apart in the sky above them.
asunder
▪ If the momentum picks up, conventional politics could be torn asunder.
▪ In 1964, the Republican Party was torn asunder by the nomination of conservative Barry Goldwater.
▪ Now their raging passions looked like tearing asunder one of the strongest rigs in the North Sea.
▪ All told, the cradle of civilization has been tearing asunder for some 30 million years.
away
▪ His young hair and this old flag tearing away at the back of him.
▪ To help Dern, Redgrave has to tear away some serious layers of denial.
▪ And before Jezrael started to react Zuleika lifted one hand to tear away her fountain of black shiny-rippled hair.
▪ She tore away the strap that kept the helmet on so that it came away in Menelaus' hand.
▪ Fine fabrics are more easily stitched when tacked to tissue paper, which can be torn away afterwards.
▪ He watched a young man hobbling up a trail, one foot torn away at the ankle.
▪ The mouth and chin had been torn away and the jaw broken.
▪ Waves up to 30 feet tore away the beachfront of the Huatulco Sheraton and other bays, leaving tree limbs scattered everywhere.
down
▪ Omonia supporters chased the ref off the pitch, then tore down the steel dressing-room doors.
▪ He ordered two barracks torn down and a fountain constructed on the cement base of a latrine.
▪ Forays had been made at night; scaffolding had been torn down and a few workers employed in building Carewscourt had been killed.
▪ Some of the oldest blocks had already been torn down with the promise that new, moderate-income housing would be put up.
▪ Robertsbridge, the great Cistercian house, disappeared entirely, torn down by the local people.
▪ One homeowner appealed to the city for help to tear down her house.
▪ He'd tear down the walls.
▪ Thousands of other business buildings and homes have been strengthened or, in some cases, torn down as unsafe.
off
▪ The knots took some undoing and then finally an impatient Adam tore off the string before slowly removing the muslin.
▪ You could tear off little pieces and light it, and it would burn.
▪ He tore off the page of notes and thrust it into his pocket.
▪ The reel began to screech in protest as a fine trout tore off into the distance, leaping spectacularly along the way.
▪ She took the paper from him so violently that she tore off the corner.
▪ The perforated slips are then torn off and placed in the pay envelopes of the employees.
▪ Unable to master the lid lock, she tears off the pull-tab.
open
▪ Frantically she tore open the door to Elinor's apartment.
▪ He tore open the cupboard door and peered at the tiny porthole of glass on the front of the central heating boiler.
▪ She tore open the envelope, ignoring the paper knife Penman laid ready for her each day.
▪ Puzzled, he tore open the envelope.
▪ With his left hand he tore open the tunic of his uniform and drew up the undershirt, baring the flesh.
▪ Magee tore open the driver's door, grabbing the man by the shoulder, hauling him from the cab.
▪ Some one else had been here before him, tearing open the bags of perishables in search of anything worthy of rescue.
▪ If I have to tear open the cages with my hands, I shall rescue him.
■ NOUN
clothes
▪ Everything he wore had to be thick, because he tore his clothes, destroyed them.
▪ If he had tried to tear the clothes from her, she probably wouldn't - couldn't - have stopped him.
▪ She would bite herself, bite anybody, and tear her clothes off.
▪ He looked ready to tear his clothes apart.
▪ Once the soldiers pushed a woman down on the floor in front of the partition and tore at her clothes.
dress
▪ One held me as the other tore my dress and then the pale flesh under.
▪ She fell into another and tore her new red dress.
ligament
▪ While appearing with them in Berlin in 1937 she tore a ligament and had to give up further hope of dancing.
▪ The tissue surrounds the torn ligaments that have limited his minutes and effectiveness in the past month.
▪ This tore the ligaments that had been repaired five months ago.
▪ His primary replacement, Junior Bryant, is questionable with a torn ligament in his right elbow.
▪ The 27-year-old Oldham keeper is likely to be out for the rest of the season after tearing wrist ligaments against Manchester United.
▪ Jurkovic suffered a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee and missed the rest of the game.
▪ Spring focus: 2B Craig Biggio says he feels fine, but he is coming off surgery for two torn knee ligaments.
▪ He had been released by the Bullets and had missed the entire season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
paper
▪ The police were called, after which Bradley started to tear up the paper bags which were on the counter.
▪ She tore the tissue paper, and tore it again until she could see what was there, nestled in her hand.
▪ She tore the tissue paper off and held up a little polythene envelope, with two silver fist-in-a-bag ear-rings inside.
▪ This rolling action can reduce the tendency to tear the paper.
▪ The point tore through the paper.
▪ She tore away the tissue paper and threw the dresses over the sofa.
▪ He tore up the paper and burned the scraps in an ashtray.
▪ I tore the paper off the chocolate and bit off a chunk.
strip
▪ Raising his tracksuit top, he tore a strip from the exposed white T-shirt underneath.
▪ Then I destroyed them, sometimes tearing them into little strips, sometimes burning them.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a/the/this vale of tears
▪ The world is a vale of tears, a giant ball of dung.
▪ We all know what next occurred-and here we all are, in this vale of tears.
be cut/torn to ribbons
▪ Her feet were cut to ribbons on the rocks.
be tearing/pulling your hair out
▪ Anyone else would be tearing his hair out, confronted by a pack of jabbering foreigners, but does Feargal?
▪ I was pulling my hair out.
be torn apart
▪ Before their lives were torn apart, they were a happy family.
▪ He was torn apart as health and social security secretary and suffered demotion before resigning.
▪ He would be torn apart by the difference between the gravitational force on his head and his feet.
▪ In practice instruments could not survive such a journey; they would be torn apart by the increasing gravitational field gradients.
▪ Parents who objected were torn apart as heretics.
▪ The political structures were torn apart until the very foundations were rocked.
▪ The spaceship would be torn apart by infinitely strong forces.
▪ We have players in the league whose families, let alone countries, are torn apart by war.
be torn/split/rent etc asunder
▪ If the momentum picks up, conventional politics could be torn asunder.
▪ In 1964, the Republican Party was torn asunder by the nomination of conservative Barry Goldwater.
▪ The veils are parting, the mists are rent asunder.
▪ This unity was to be rent asunder by changes in technology and by the impact of the Modern Movement in architecture.
blind with tears/rage/pain etc
▪ She turned her back again, her shoulders heaving, her eyes blind with tears.
blood, sweat, and tears
crocodile tears
▪ But far be it for us to shed crocodile tears over the bruised egos of our male counterparts.
▪ So much for the exiles' crocodile tears over Elian's removal.
▪ That is why we should regard Labour's albeit genuine crocodile tears as extremely salty.
▪ They weep crocodile tears for the poor and disadvantaged, but are basically happy with things as they are.
▪ You will notice phrases like crocodile tears, the elephant never forgets, and the ostrich burying its head in the sand.
in floods of tears
▪ I was in floods of tears.
▪ It was surprising that she did not feel embarrassed at being caught in floods of tears.
▪ Jane departed in floods of tears and Rosemary duly arrived, in a very bad temper.
pull/rip/tear sb/sth to pieces
▪ And having got under them, he can't half tear them to pieces.
▪ Brandon Thomas opted to unveil his Aunt away from London fearful that the capital's theatre critics would tear it to pieces.
▪ He was thrown from his chariot and his horses tore him to pieces and devoured him.
▪ I had been given the power to obliterate, to steal a body from its grave and tear it to pieces.
▪ If Hyde returns while I am writing this confession, he will tear it to pieces to annoy me.
▪ They will tear you to pieces.
▪ We are lost, for they will surely tear us to pieces with their sharp claws.
see sth through a mist of tears
smash/rip/tear sth to pieces
▪ And having got under them, he can't half tear them to pieces.
▪ Brandon Thomas opted to unveil his Aunt away from London fearful that the capital's theatre critics would tear it to pieces.
▪ He was thrown from his chariot and his horses tore him to pieces and devoured him.
▪ I had been given the power to obliterate, to steal a body from its grave and tear it to pieces.
▪ If Hyde returns while I am writing this confession, he will tear it to pieces to annoy me.
▪ Telling me the strangest things sometimes, evil things - till I want to shout out or smash them to pieces.
▪ We are lost, for they will surely tear us to pieces with their sharp claws.
tear/rip sth to shreds
▪ And the politicians, thank goodness, have only so much money with which to rip each other to shreds.
▪ Its springtime for President Bill Clinton as he watches his Republican challengers rip each other to shreds.
▪ Other than the chance to rip it to shreds.
▪ The agony of such a torment would tear her to shreds.
▪ They didn't have a humidifier and it's torn my voice to shreds.
▪ They snarled at them as if they were criminals and took their papers as if they'd like to tear them to shreds.
▪ They would have torn Corbett to shreds if the grille had been raised.
▪ Within two years, other researchers had torn it to shreds.
tug/tear/pull at sb's heartstrings
▪ It pulls at the heartstrings of every agent out there to see a young lady or anyone jeopardized by these conditions.
▪ That night the little creature did not stop crying and its pitiful little squeak tore at Aggie's heartstrings.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ A masked man came tearing out of the bank and jumped into a waiting car.
▪ Be careful, the paper tears easily.
▪ Bobby tore past, shouting something about being late for work.
▪ Careful - the paper is very old and tears easily.
▪ Celia grabbed the envelope and tore it open.
▪ Don't tear pages out of the book.
▪ Don't pull on the cloth, it will tear.
▪ He took my ticket and tore it in half. "Row J, seats 8 and 9."
▪ How did you tear your pocket?
▪ I tore a hole in my jacket, climbing over the fence.
▪ I tore a hole in my new blouse.
▪ I had torn the knees of my jeans on the rough gravel.
▪ Mary tore off downstairs, determined to see the visitors for herself.
▪ My jacket caught on a nail and tore.
▪ Peterson tore open the envelope.
▪ She tore a page out of her diary and wrote her phone number on it.
▪ She unwrapped the present carefully, trying not to tear the paper.
▪ The attendant tore off the parking ticket and handed it back.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Forays had been made at night; scaffolding had been torn down and a few workers employed in building Carewscourt had been killed.
▪ He tore the envelope open, his mind full of various pleasing conjectures.
▪ He walked hesitatingly forward, his skin tensed for the feeling of metal tearing flesh.
▪ If they start building here, it will be like tearing my heart out.
▪ Martell has been torn from his wife and stepchildren.
▪ Surely tearing up the Pope's picture was meant as a symbolic gesture, not a personal affront.
▪ Worthy mentors work to build you up, not tear you down.
III.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
weep
▪ And I wouldn't weep tears over it, either.
▪ Spitting icicles and weeping tears of frost, the crucified one wrenched at his adamantine bolts.
▪ Then I began to weep, howling with tears.
▪ Whatever the reason, she wept, heartbroken tears that were almost silent but which tore her apart.
▪ Finally to let her mind slip free of all this chaos, turn her face to the wall and weep slow tears.
▪ You hold the world at arms length while Your heart weeps tears but your lips smile.
▪ There are hundreds of reports of miraculous statues of Mary weeping real tears: some are reported to weep blood.
▪ So she fell upon his grey hairy neck, weeping bright tears.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He had had visions, striding back to Bedford Square, of proper love-making, of tenderness, perhaps some tears.
▪ His parents' faces turn ashen when they first see him, then they smile through their tears.
▪ I remember it as if I were still standing there, streaked with blood and dust and tears, talking to her.
▪ Its last 15 minutes had me right where the filmmakers wanted me, which was in tears.
▪ They had to use tear gas to drive off the rioters.
▪ This time was no different and my master left Syon with the tears streaming down his face.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Tear

Tear \Tear\ (t[=e]r), n. [AS. te['a]r; akin to G. z["a]rhe, OHG. zahar, OFries. & Icel. t[=a]r, Sw. t[*a]r, Dan. taare, Goth. tagr, OIr. d[=e]r, W. dagr, OW. dacr, L. lacrima, lacruma, for older dacruma, Gr. da`kry, da`kryon, da`kryma. [root]59. Cf. Lachrymose.]

  1. (Physiol.) A drop of the limpid, saline fluid secreted, normally in small amount, by the lachrymal gland, and diffused between the eye and the eyelids to moisten the parts and facilitate their motion. Ordinarily the secretion passes through the lachrymal duct into the nose, but when it is increased by emotion or other causes, it overflows the lids.

    And yet for thee ne wept she never a tear.
    --Chaucer.

  2. Something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins.

    Let Araby extol her happy coast, Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious tears.
    --Dryden.

  3. That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge. [R.] ``Some melodous tear.''
    --Milton.

  4. (Glass Manuf.) A partially vitrified bit of clay in glass.

    Note: Tear is sometimes used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, tear-distilling, tear-drop, tear-filled, tear-stained, and the like.

    Tears of St. Lawrence, the Perseid shower of meteors, seen every year on or about the eve of St. Lawrence, August 9th.

    Tears of wine, drops which form and roll down a glass above the surface of strong wine. The phenomenon is due to the evaporation of alcohol from the surface layer, which, becoming more watery, increases in surface tension and creeps up the sides until its weight causes it to break.

Tear

Tear \Tear\ (t[^a]r), v. t. [imp. Tore (t[=o]r), ((Obs. Tare) (t[^a]r); p. p. Torn (t[=o]rn); p. pr. & vb. n. Tearing.] [OE. teren, AS. teran; akin to OS. farterian to destroy, D. teren to consume, G. zerren to pull, to tear, zehren to consume, Icel. t[ae]ra, Goth. gata['i]ran to destroy, Lith. dirti to flay, Russ. drate to pull, to tear, Gr. de`rein to flay, Skr. dar to burst. [root]63. Cf. Darn, Epidermis, Tarre, Tirade.]

  1. To separate by violence; to pull apart by force; to rend; to lacerate; as, to tear cloth; to tear a garment; to tear the skin or flesh.

    Tear him to pieces; he's a conspirator.
    --Shak.

  2. Hence, to divide by violent measures; to disrupt; to rend; as, a party or government torn by factions.

  3. To rend away; to force away; to remove by force; to sunder; as, a child torn from its home.

    The hand of fate Hath torn thee from me.
    --Addison.

  4. To pull with violence; as, to tear the hair.

  5. To move violently; to agitate. ``Once I loved torn ocean's roar.''
    --Byron.

    To tear a cat, to rant violently; to rave; -- especially applied to theatrical ranting. [Obs.]
    --Shak.

    To tear down, to demolish violently; to pull or pluck down.

    To tear off, to pull off by violence; to strip.

    To tear out, to pull or draw out by violence; as, to tear out the eyes.

    To tear up, to rip up; to remove from a fixed state by violence; as, to tear up a floor; to tear up the foundation of government or order.

Tear

Tear \Tear\, v. i.

  1. To divide or separate on being pulled; to be rent; as, this cloth tears easily.

  2. To move and act with turbulent violence; to rush with violence; hence, to rage; to rave.

Tear

Tear \Tear\, n. The act of tearing, or the state of being torn; a rent; a fissure.
--Macaulay.

Wear and tear. See under Wear, n.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
tear

"fluid drop from the eye," Old English tear "tear, drop, nectar, what is distilled in drops," from earlier teahor, tæhher, from Proto-Germanic *tahr-, *tagr- (cognates: Old Norse, Old Frisian tar, Old High German zahar, German Zähre, Gothic tagr "tear"), from PIE *dakru- (cognates: Latin lacrima, Old Latin dacrima, Irish der, Welsh deigr, Greek dakryma). To be in tears "weeping" is from 1550s. Tear gas first recorded 1917.

tear

"act of ripping or rending," 1660s, from tear (v.1). Old English had ter (n.) "tearing, laceration, thing torn."

tear

early 15c., "shed tears," 1650s, "fill with tears" mainly in American English, from tear (n.1). Related: Teared; tearing. Old English verb tæherian, tearian "to weep" did not survive into Middle English.

tear

"pull apart," Old English teran "to tear, lacerate" (class IV strong verb; past tense tær, past participle toren), from Proto-Germanic *teran (cognates: Old Saxon terian, Middle Dutch teren "to consume," Old High German zeran "to destroy," German zehren, Gothic ga-tairan "to tear, destroy"), from PIE *der- (2) "to split, peel, flay," with derivatives referring to skin and leather (cognates: Sanskrit drnati "cleaves, bursts," Greek derein "to flay," Armenian terem "I flay," Old Church Slavonic dera "to burst asunder," Breton darn "piece").\n

\nThe Old English past tense survived long enough to get into Bible translations as tare before giving place 17c. to tore, which is from the old past participle toren. Sense of "to pull by force" (away from some situation or attachment) is attested from late 13c. To be torn between two things (desires, loyalties, etc.) is from 1871.

Wiktionary
tear

Etymology 1 n. A hole or break caused by tearing. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate. 2 (context transitive English) To injure as if by pulling apart. 3 (context transitive English) To cause to lose some kind of unity or coherence. Etymology 2

n. A drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the eyes by crying or irritation. vb. (context intransitive English) To produce tears.

Related phrases:
WordNet
tear

  1. n. a drop of the clear salty saline solution secreted by the lacrimal glands; "his story brought tears to her eyes" [syn: teardrop]

  2. an opening made forcibly as by pulling apart; "there was a rip in his pants"; "she had snags in her stockings" [syn: rip, rent, snag, split]

  3. an occasion for excessive eating or drinking; "they went on a bust that lasted three days" [syn: bust, binge, bout]

  4. the act of tearing; "he took the manuscript in both hands and gave it a mighty tear"

  5. [also: torn, tore]

tear

  1. v. separate or cause to separate abruptly; "The rope snapped"; "tear the paper" [syn: rupture, snap, bust]

  2. to separate or be separated by force; "planks were in danger of being torn from the crossbars"

  3. move quickly and violently; "The car tore down the street"; "He came charging into my office" [syn: shoot, shoot down, charge, buck]

  4. strip of feathers; "pull a chicken"; "pluck the capon" [syn: pluck, pull, deplume, deplumate, displume]

  5. fill with tears or shed tears; "Her eyes were tearing"

  6. [also: torn, tore]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Tear

Tear, Tears or Tearing may refer to:

  • Tears, a watery secretion from the eyes
  • Tearing, the act of ripping fabric or other materials
Tear (scratch)
  1. redirect Turntablism#Tear
Tear (song)

"Tear" is a song by Lotion released as both a two-song single 7" and a four-song Compact Disc single in 1993 through Kokopop and re-released in 1996. The songs were recorded on January 3, 1993, at Noise in New Jersey.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "tear".

A volley of gunfire tore into the Aberrant creature and it squawked in fury, but it would not let go of its prize.

Their breaths mingled there between them, their lips mere inches apart, and Abigail could not tear her eyes away from his mesmerizing gaze.

Malink was hurling a string of native curses at Abo, who looked as if he would burst into tears any second.

A large eel suddenly broke the surface tearing at the side of my abraided leg.

With faith and trust almost divine, These same blue eyes, abrim with tears, Through depths of love look into mine.

I see for the least instant that Her lips are not quite firm and Her eyes abrim with tears.

Aurelia in Pistoja, to fall with tears at her feet, to be pardoned and absolved, to rise to the life of honour and respect once more.

As he said the last words my converter rose, and went to the window to dry his tears, I felt deeply moved, anal full of admiration for the virtue of De la Haye and of his pupil, who, to save his soul, had placed himself under the hard necessity of accepting alms.

Police SWAT teams in chic basic black accessorized with tear gas and semiautomatic weapons are charging in past the doorman holding the door in his gold braid.

He had known almost from the time he left her that he would never truly be able to forget Holly, and after less than six months away from her he had ached so intensely for her that he had often woken up in the night with his face wet with tears and the echoes of her name still resounding through his mind as he called despairingly for her.

Now the brothers would tear Achar apart in their hatred for each other, tear it apart until finally they stood sword to sword in the Chamber of the Moons.

The heart and facial features were clearly outlined with bright red achiote and the entire figure was torn with lance marks.

Revenge and the hatred for the monsters that tore my body apart, were my major incentives to keep the search for Adeem alive.

Now was led forth, amidst the insults of his enemies, and the tears of the people, this man of illustrious birth, and of the greatest renown in the nation, to suffer, for his adhering to the laws of his country, and the rights of his sovereign, the ignominious death destined to the meanest malefactor.

The plastic aerator valves, surgically stitched in his chest, pulled and twisted and seemed to tear with each lurch of his body.