What's the difference between shear and sheer?

Shear


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To cut, clip, or sever anything from with shears or a like instrument; as, to shear sheep; to shear cloth.
  • (v. t.) To separate or sever with shears or a similar instrument; to cut off; to clip (something) from a surface; as, to shear a fleece.
  • (v. t.) To reap, as grain.
  • (v. t.) Fig.: To deprive of property; to fleece.
  • (v. t.) To produce a change of shape in by a shear. See Shear, n., 4.
  • (v. t.) A pair of shears; -- now always used in the plural, but formerly also in the singular. See Shears.
  • (v. t.) A shearing; -- used in designating the age of sheep.
  • (v. t.) An action, resulting from applied forces, which tends to cause two contiguous parts of a body to slide relatively to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact; -- also called shearing stress, and tangential stress.
  • (v. t.) A strain, or change of shape, of an elastic body, consisting of an extension in one direction, an equal compression in a perpendicular direction, with an unchanged magnitude in the third direction.
  • (v. i.) To deviate. See Sheer.
  • (v. i.) To become more or less completely divided, as a body under the action of forces, by the sliding of two contiguous parts relatively to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The sticking probability decreased as the cell receptor concentration was lowered from approximately 10(4) to 10(2) receptors per 4-microns diam liposome and as the shear rate increased from 5 to 22 s-1.
  • (2) Gonococcal outer membranes were purified by differential ultracentrifugation of sheared organisms treated with EDTA.
  • (3) This movement generates forward and backward shearing force in the stagnation region as the separated flow migrates back and forth.
  • (4) This model characterized the abnormal flow by a weak fluctuation of wall shear stress at the site adjacent to the vessel wall.
  • (5) The hemolytic characteristics of 14 different polydimethyl-siloxane materials were studied, using a rotating disk device to shear whole human blood for 6000 sec.
  • (6) Since the antithrombin action of heparin fails to interrupt arterial thrombosis, a mediating role for thrombin (EC 3.4.21.5) in the formation of high-shear platelet-dependent thrombus has been unproven.
  • (7) A propensity for elevated shear in the deep cartilage layer near the contact periphery, observed in nearly all computed stress distributions, is consistent with previous experimental findings of fissuring at that level in the impulsively loaded rabbit knee.
  • (8) The development of a shear transducer, small enough to be worn comfortably under a normal foot, is described, along with a microcomputer controlled data logger.
  • (9) In an emergency, the devices use multiple mechanisms – including clamps and shears – to try to choke off the oil flowing up from a pipe and disconnect the rig from the well.
  • (10) Cement was pressurized into the cavity of the anatomic specimens, and the maximum interface shear strength between the cement plug and the bone was experimentally determined for each revision.
  • (11) At the divider side walls, wall shear stresses are relatively high and approximately follow the flow rate distribution in time.
  • (12) Platelet adhesion onto subendothelium of a damaged blood vessel depends upon the presence of von Willebrand factor (vWf) only at high flow shear rate.
  • (13) Shear stress and first normal stress difference are measured as a function of shear gradient to calculate the apparent shear viscosity eta 1 and the apparent normal viscosity psi 7 as well as an apparent shear modulus G'.
  • (14) The accepted cause of this shear rate-dependent and time-dependent behavior is the progressive breakdown of rouleaux into individual red cells.
  • (15) The mean length of a population of microtubules containing GMPPCP increased only by 37% over a 150 min time period after shearing.
  • (16) By studying the kinetics of urease-catalyzed urea hydrolysis during application of hydrodynamic shear under varying chemical environments, we demonstrate that micromolar quantities of metal ions, in this case adventitious Fe, can accelerate the oxidation of thiol groups on urease and thus inactivate it when the protein is subjected to a shearing stress of order 1.0 Pa.
  • (17) The viscosity of these materials were measured by using the Ishida-Giken cone and plate high shear rheometer.
  • (18) The primate skull physical model data and the critical shear strain associated with the threshold for severe diffuse axonal injury were used to scale data obtained from previous studies to man, and thus derive a diffuse axonal injury tolerance for rotational acceleration for humans.
  • (19) Flagellar filaments were isolated from either culture fluid or concentrated cell suspensions that were subjected to shearing.
  • (20) Hemodilution seems particularly promising under hemodynamic condition of low shear stresses in vivo.

Sheer


Definition:

  • (v. i.) Bright; clear; pure; unmixed.
  • (v. i.) Very thin or transparent; -- applied to fabrics; as, sheer muslin.
  • (v. i.) Being only what it seems to be; obvious; simple; mere; downright; as, sheer folly; sheer nonsense.
  • (v. i.) Stright up and down; vertical; prpendicular.
  • (adv.) Clean; quite; at once.
  • (v. t.) To shear.
  • (v. i.) 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.
  • (n.) The longitudinal upward curvature of the deck, gunwale, and lines of a vessel, as when viewed from the side.
  • (n.) The position of a vessel riding at single anchor and swinging clear of it.
  • (n.) A turn or change in a course.
  • (n.) Shears See Shear.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Problems associated with school-based clinics include vehement opposition to sex education, financing, and the sheer magnitude of the adolescents' health needs.
  • (2) They argue that the US, the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases per capita (China recently surpassed us in sheer volume), needs to lead the fight to limit carbon emissions, rather continuing to block global treaties as it has done in the past.
  • (3) But with the advantages and attractions that Scotland already has, and, more importantly, taking into account the morale boost, the sheer energisation of a whole people that would come about because we would finally have our destiny at least largely back in our own hands again – I think we could do it.
  • (4) Obviously, the sheer number of lasers being used both clinically and experimentally indicates a great potential for further advancement and refinement in technique and surgical outcomes.
  • (5) I was amazed by the sheer scale of the operation, easily mistaken for a full military assault on a kraken.
  • (6) We can inhabit only one version of being human – the only version that survives today – but what is fascinating is that palaeoanthropology shows us those other paths to becoming human, their successes and their eventual demise, whether through failure or just sheer bad luck.
  • (7) The report, extracts of which were published by the investigative news website Exaro , is said to include “devastating detail” of the corporation’s “sheer scale of awareness” of the late star’s activities.
  • (8) There is a policy review process, a manifesto and the small matter of winning another election between here and catastrophe, but the sheer barbarism of the outlined idea is breathtaking.
  • (9) Back in the 1970s, a severe economic crisis revealed the sheer unsustainability of government policies.
  • (10) So we started asking them ridiculous questions about being single," says Lucas, "and the sheer number of misunderstandings about each other's lives felt like comedic material."
  • (11) He skirted round the issue of historic responsibility for the misery but referred to the sheer scale of the sacrifice, pointing out that, among more than 14,000 parishes in the whole of England and Wales, only about 50 so-called "thankful parishes" saw all their soldiers return.
  • (12) But all that has changed since I discovered the sheer joy of hunting down items with “reduced” stickers at my local Waitrose.
  • (13) TUC general secretary Brendan Barber welcomed the letters, which argue against the Conservative party's position that the sheer scale of the UK deficit means public spending must be cut immediately.
  • (14) This year though, the annual fest of tit tape, weepy self-congratulation and sheer star power will be remembered for more than a frock faux pas: there was a serious cock-up .
  • (15) Brown, from Sheerness in Kent, who was to earn £15,000 a year from the role, has apologised for causing offence with the messages she posted between the ages of 14 and 16.
  • (16) I hope that people feel inspired enough, maybe in the sheer face of loss, to just do what they should be doing in life.
  • (17) David Winnick, the MP for Walsall North, said: "None of [May's] excuses can explain away the sheer incompetence and shambles that have occurred on her watch."
  • (18) Through combination with a spherical disc face perpendicular to the axis of rotation, which protrudes only slightly from the hemispherical catheter tip, with a maximum at the center and minimum at the lateral borders, the lathing head has only a slight risk of perforation and no undesired sheering forces (Figures 2a to 2d).
  • (19) Redwoods are taller, but giant sequoias win for sheer mass: the General Sherman's trunk has a volume of 1,487 cubic metres and is estimated to weigh over 2,000 tonnes.
  • (20) "Some of you may have heard we have a new judge this year," said Forsyth, summoning his finest brow-raise and hauling the audience at least temporarily on side by sheer force of showbiz will.