shear

«shear» in Mova's judaism dictionary: to cut off its wool — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (shear, shears, sheared, shorn or sheared, shearing); noun (shears = big scissors; shear in science)

meaning for a pupil

1) To shear a sheep is to cut off its wool. tree →

2) To shear can mean to cut or break something off, often by a strong sideways force: the bolt sheared off. tree →

3) Shears (plural) are large scissors for cutting hedges, grass or wool. tree →

4) (science) Shear is a force that pushes parts of something sideways in opposite directions, like rubbing your hands together. tree →

sense in the lessons

In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: To shear is to cut the wool off sheep. In Isaiah it also appears inside a name: Shear-jashub, Isaiah's son, which means "a remnant shall return." Interpretation: The law not to shear a firstling animal teaches that it is holy to God and cannot be used for the owner's profit. The name Shear-jashub is read as a promise that some of Israel will come back to God. In the primary lessons: Farming and everyday life: sheep shearing happens in spring in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and Ireland; shearers can shear hundreds of sheep a day. Gardening: hedge shears. Science and engineering: shear forces can snap bolts or make rocks slide in an earthquake; «wind shear» is dangerous for planes.

examples

• Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep. (Torah GEN.31.19, JPS 1917) tree →
• And it was told Tamar, saying: 'Behold, thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnah to shear his sheep.' (Torah GEN.38.13, JPS 1917) tree →
• All the firstling males that are born of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God; thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thine ox, nor shear the firstling of thy flock. (Torah DEU.15.19, JPS 1917) tree →
• Then said the LORD unto Isaiah: 'Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fullers' field; (Prophets ISA.7.3, JPS 1917) tree →
• The farmer will shear the sheep in spring. tree →
• The sheep looked tiny after it was shorn. tree →
• Grandpa trims the hedge with garden shears. tree →
• The strong wind sheared a branch off the tree. tree →
• Sheep shearing is a big sport in New Zealand. tree →
• In science we learned how shear forces break things. tree →
• The shearers worked fast all day. tree →

note

Homophone trap: «shear» (cut) sounds like «sheer» (very steep; complete; see-through, as in sheer curtains). Past participle: shorn (for sheep or hair) or sheared (for metal). «Shears» is plural like «scissors»: «a pair of shears».

In the corpora

• Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep.
• And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
• Use garden tools only with a grown-up; lay a rake teeth down and carry shears closed and pointing down.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «shear» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.