shears
pronunciation
How to pronounce shears in British English:
UK [ʃɪəz]
How to pronounce shears in American English:
US [ʃɪrz]
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- Noun:
- (usually plural) large scissors with strong blades
Word Origin
- shears (n.)
- "large scissors," Old English scearra (plural) "shears, scissors," from Proto-Germanic *sker- "to cut" (cognates: Middle Dutch schaer, Old High German scara, German Schere; see shear (v.)). In 17c., also "a device for raising the masts of ships" (1620s). As "scissors," OED labels it Scottish and dialectal. Chalk is no shears (1640s) was noted as a Scottish proverb expressing the gap between planning and doing.
Example
- 1. And so be took his shears and walked quietly away .
- 2. Using cranes armed with metal shears capable of slicing five-centimeter-thick steel , the companies would carve the wreck into liftable chunks 200 to 300 metric tons in weight . Afterward , they would use electromagnets three meters in diameter to clean the seafloor of debris .
- 3. He was cutting apart aluminum pans with a pair of shears .
- 4. A chair will morph into a shears , or anything else you want , through a new technology known as claytronics .
- 5. They need to learn how to maneuver around unhealthy choices and be aware of hidden nutritional shears .