Daily Almanac for
Nov 27, 2009
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sheer



Pronunciation: (shēr), [key]
—adj., -er, -est,
—adv., n.

—adj.
1. transparently thin; diaphanous, as some fabrics: sheer stockings.
2. unmixed with anything else: We drilled a hundred feet through sheer rock.
3. unqualified; utter: sheer nonsense.
4. extending down or up very steeply; almost completely vertical: a sheer descent of rock.
5. Brit. Obs.bright; shining.

—adv.
1. clear; completely; quite: ran sheer into the thick of battle.
2. perpendicularly; vertically; down or up very steeply.

—n.
a thin, diaphanous material, as chiffon or voile.

sheer



Pronunciation: (shēr), [key]
—v.i.
to deviate from a course, as a ship; swerve.

—v.t.
1. to cause to sheer.
2. Shipbuilding.to give sheer to (a hull).

—n.
1. a deviation or divergence, as of a ship from its course; swerve.
2. Shipbuilding.the fore-and-aft upward curve of the hull of a vessel at the main deck or bulwarks.
3. Naut.the position in which a ship at anchor is placed to keep it clear of the anchor.

Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.

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