SHEERLY

Etymology

Adverb

sheerly (comparative more sheerly, superlative most sheerly)

Absolutely; purely; quite.

At a very steep angle; precipitously.

(obsolete) At once.

Source: Wiktionary

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Sheer"ly, adv.

Definition: At once; absolutely. [Obs.]

SHEER

Sheer, a. Etym: [OE. shere, skere, pure, bright, Icel. sk; akin to skirr, AS. scir, OS. skiri, MHG. schir, G. schier, Dan. sk, Sw. skär, Goth. skeirs clear, and E. shine. sq. root157. See Shine, v. i.]

1. Bright; clear; pure; unmixed. "Sheer ale." Shak. Thou sheer, immaculate, and silver fountain. Shak.

2. Very thin or transparent; -- applied to fabrics; as, sheer muslin.

3. Being only what it seems to be; obvious; simple; mere; downright; as, sheer folly; sheer nonsense. "A sheer impossibility." De Quincey. It is not a sheer advantage to have several strings to one's bow. M. Arnold.

4. Stright up and down; vertical; prpendicular. A sheer precipice of a thousand feet. J. D. Hooker. It was at least Nine roods of sheer ascent. Wordsworth.

Sheer, adv.

Definition: Clean; quite; at once. [Obs.] Milton.

Sheer, v. t. Etym: [See Shear.]

Definition: To shear. [Obs.] Dryden.

Sheer, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sheered; p. pr. & vb. n. Sheering.] Etym: [D. sheren to shear, cut, withdraw, warp. See Shear.]

Definition: To decline or deviate from the line of the proper course; to turn aside; to swerve; as, a ship sheers from her course; a horse sheers at a bicycle. To sheer off, to turn or move aside to a distance; to move away.

– To sheer up, to approach obliquely.

Sheer, n.

1. (Naut.) (a) The longitudinal upward curvature of the deck, gunwale, and lines of a vessel, as when viewed from the side. (b) The position of a vessel riding at single anchor and swinging clear of it.

2. A turn or change in a course. Give the canoe a sheer and get nearer to the shore. Cooper.

3. pl.

Definition: 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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