“You can shear a sheep for life, but you can only slaughter it once” goes an old saying that sportsbooks seem to have heeded. From The Wall Street Journal

SHEAR meaning: 1. to cut the wool off a sheep: 2. to cut the hair on a person's head close to the skin…. Learn more.

1. shave, fleece In the Hebrides they shear their sheep later than everyone else.

Mar 2, 2026 · shear (third-person singular simple present shears, present participle shearing, simple past sheared or shore, past participle shorn or sheared) (intransitive, transitive) To remove the fleece …

Definition of shear verb in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

To shear a sheep means to cut its wool off. In the Hebrides they shear their sheep later than anywhere else. [VERB noun]

Shear pin, in machinery, such as a plough, designed to shear (break) when a certain force is exceeded, to protect other components of the machine.

The meaning of SHEAR is to cut off the hair from. How to use shear in a sentence.

Shear means to cut or trim something, especially with scissors or shears. It can also refer to the force that causes layers or parts to slide past each other, like in geology or engineering.

To cut; specifically, to clip or cut with a. sharp instrument, as a knife, but especially with shears, scissors, or the like: as, to shear sheep; to shear cloth (that is, to clip the nap).