'Sheer' definitions:

Definition of 'sheer'

(from WordNet)
adverb
Straight up or down without a break [syn: sheer, perpendicularly]
adverb
Directly; "he fell sheer into the water"
adjective
Complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers; "absolute freedom"; "an absolute dimwit"; "a downright lie"; "out- and-out mayhem"; "an out-and-out lie"; "a rank outsider"; "many right-down vices"; "got the job through sheer persistence"; "sheer stupidity" [syn: absolute, downright, out-and-out(a), rank(a), right-down, sheer(a)]
adjective
Not mixed with extraneous elements; "plain water"; "sheer wine"; "not an unmixed blessing" [syn: plain, sheer, unmingled, unmixed]
adjective
Very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front; "a bluff headland"; "where the bold chalk cliffs of England rise"; "a sheer descent of rock" [syn: bluff, bold, sheer]
adjective
So thin as to transmit light; "a hat with a diaphanous veil"; "filmy wings of a moth"; "gauzy clouds of dandelion down"; "gossamer cobwebs"; "sheer silk stockings"; "transparent chiffon"; "vaporous silks" [syn: diaphanous, filmy, gauzy, gauze-like, gossamer, see-through, sheer, transparent, vaporous, vapourous, cobwebby]
verb
Turn sharply; change direction abruptly; "The car cut to the left at the intersection"; "The motorbike veered to the right" [syn: swerve, sheer, curve, trend, veer, slue, slew, cut]
verb
Cause to sheer; "She sheered her car around the obstacle"

Definition of 'Sheer'

From: GCIDE
  • Sheer \Sheer\, a. [OE. shere, skere, pure, bright, Icel. sk?rr; akin to sk[imac]rr, AS. sc[imac]r, OS. sk[imac]ri, MHG. sch[imac]r, G. schier, Dan. sk?r, Sw. sk[aum]r, Goth. skeirs clear, and E. shine. [root]157. See Shine, v. i.]
  • 1. Bright; clear; pure; unmixed. "Sheer ale." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • Thou sheer, immaculate, and silver fountain. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Very thin or transparent; -- applied to fabrics; as, sheer muslin. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Being only what it seems to be; obvious; simple; mere; downright; as, sheer folly; sheer nonsense. "A sheer impossibility." --De Quincey. [1913 Webster]
  • It is not a sheer advantage to have several strings to one's bow. --M. Arnold. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. Stright up and down; vertical; prpendicular. [1913 Webster]
  • A sheer precipice of a thousand feet. --J. D. Hooker. [1913 Webster]
  • It was at least Nine roods of sheer ascent. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Sheer'

From: GCIDE
  • Sheer \Sheer\, adv. Clean; quite; at once. [Obs.] --Milton. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Sheer'

From: GCIDE
  • Sheer \Sheer\, v. t. [See Shear.] To shear. [Obs.] --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Sheer'

From: GCIDE
  • Sheer \Sheer\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sheered; p. pr. & vb. n. Sheering.] [D. sheren to shear, cut, withdraw, warp. See Shear.] 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. [1913 Webster]
  • To sheer off, to turn or move aside to a distance; to move away.
  • To sheer up, to approach obliquely. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Sheer'

From: GCIDE
  • Sheer \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. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. A turn or change in a course. [1913 Webster]
  • Give the canoe a sheer and get nearer to the shore. --Cooper. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. pl. Shears See Shear. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'sheer'

From: Moby Thesaurus