SHEAR, verb transitive preterit tense sheared; participle passive sheared or shorn. The old preterit tense shore is entirely obsolete.

1. To cut or clip something from the surface with an instrument of two blades; to separate any thing from the surface by shears, scissors or a like instrument; as, to shear sheep; to shear cloth. It is appropriately used for the cutting of wool from sheep on their skins, for clipping the nap from cloth, but may be applied to other things; as, a horse shears the ground in feeding much closer than an ox.

2. To separate by shears; as, to shear a fleece.

3. To reap. [Not in use.] Scotish.

SHEAR, To deviate. [See Sheer.]