Sheepy
(Sheep"y) a. Resembling sheep; sheepish. Testament of Love.
Sheer
(Sheer) a. [OE. shere, skere, pure, bright, Icel. skrr; akin to skirr, AS. scir, OS. skiri, MHG.
schir, G. schier, Dan. skr, Sw. skär, Goth. skeirs clear, and E. shine. &radic157. 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
(Sheer), adv. Clean; quite; at once. [Obs.] Milton.
Sheer
(Sheer), v. t. [See Shear.] To shear. [Obs.] Dryden.
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.
To sheer off, to turn or move aside to a distance; to move away. — To sheer up, to approach obliquely.
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.
2. A turn or change in a course.
Give the canoe a sheer and get nearer to the shore.
Cooper. 3. 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.
Sheerly
(Sheer"ly) adv. At once; absolutely. [Obs.]
Sheerwater
(Sheer"wa`ter) n. (Zoöl.) The shearwater.
Sheet
(Sheet) n. [OE. shete, schete, AS. scete, scyte, fr. sceát a projecting corner, a fold in a garment
(akin to D. schoot sheet, bosom, lap, G. schoss bosom, lap, flap of a coat, Icel. skaut, Goth. skauts
