shearing
part of speech
noun (shearing; uncountable); verb form (present participle of «shear»: shearing); adjective (shearing shed)
meaning for a pupil
1) Shearing is cutting the wool off a sheep, usually once a year. tree →
2) «Shearing» is the -ing form of «shear»: cutting with big scissors (shears) or clippers. tree →
3) (science) Shearing is when forces push parts of something in opposite directions so it slides or breaks, as in a «shearing force». tree →
sense in the lessons
In Australia and New Zealand shearing is a big part of farm life: shearers work in a «shearing shed» in spring and compete in shearing contests. In science, it explains why materials snap or why the ground slips in earthquakes. Phrases: «sheep shearing», «shearing shed», «shearing season», «shearing force».
examples
- The farmer is shearing the sheep before summer. tree →
- Shearing does not hurt the sheep, like a haircut. tree →
- We visited a shearing shed in New Zealand. tree →
- A fast shearer can finish a sheep in about a minute. tree →
- The strong wind was shearing branches off the trees. tree →
- Shearing season is the busiest time on the farm. tree →
- At last, after fruitlessly shearing off nine of the Chudo-Yudo's heads, and finding himself embedded in the ground up to his armpits, Ivan flings his cap at the hut. tree →
note
Verb forms: shear, shears, sheared, shearing; past participle sheared or shorn. Homophone trap: «shear» (cut) and «sheer» (very steep, or complete: «sheer luck») sound the same.
In the corpora
- And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
- And as he was at the shearing-house of the shepherds in the way,
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «shearing» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.