sheer: Meaning and Definition of

sheer

Pronunciation: (shēr), [key]
— adj., adv., n. -er, -est,
—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. bright; shining.
—adv.
  1. clear; completely; quite: ran sheer into the thick of battle.
  2. perpendicularly; vertically; down or up very steeply.
—n.
  1. a thin, diaphanous material, as chiffon or voile.

sheer

Pronunciation: (shēr), [key]
— v.i.
  1. to deviate from a course, as a ship; swerve.
—v.t.
  1. to cause to sheer.
  2. to give sheer to (a hull).
—n.
  1. a deviation or divergence, as of a ship from its course; swerve.
  2. the fore-and-aft upward curve of the hull of a vessel at the main deck or bulwarks.
  3. 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.
See also: