The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Shear \Shear\, n. [AS. sceara. See Shear, v. t.]
1. A pair of shears; -- now always used in the plural, but
formerly also in the singular. See Shears.
[1913 Webster]
On his head came razor none, nor shear. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
Short of the wool, and naked from the shear.
--Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
2. A shearing; -- used in designating the age of sheep.
[1913 Webster]
After the second shearing, he is a two-shear ram; .
. . at the expiration of another year, he is a
three-shear ram; the name always taking its date
from the time of shearing. --Youatt.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Engin.) An action, resulting from applied forces, which
tends to cause two contiguous parts of a body to slide
relatively to each other in a direction parallel to their
plane of contact; -- also called shearing stress, and
tangential stress.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Mech.) A strain, or change of shape, of an elastic body,
consisting of an extension in one direction, an equal
compression in a perpendicular direction, with an
unchanged magnitude in the third direction.
[1913 Webster]
Shear blade, one of the blades of shears or a shearing
machine.
Shear hulk. See under Hulk.
Shear steel, a steel suitable for shears, scythes, and
other cutting instruments, prepared from fagots of
blistered steel by repeated heating, rolling, and tilting,
to increase its malleability and fineness of texture.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Hulk \Hulk\, n. [OE. hulke a heavy ship, AS. hulc a light, swift
ship; akin to D. hulk a ship of burden, G. holk, OHG. holcho;
perh. fr. LL. holcas, Gr. ?, prop., a ship which is towed,
fr. ? to draw, drag, tow. Cf. Wolf, Holcad.]
1. The body of a ship or decked vessel of any kind; esp., the
body of an old vessel laid by as unfit for service. "Some
well-timbered hulk." --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
2. A heavy ship of clumsy build. --Skeat.
[1913 Webster]
3. Anything bulky or unwieldly. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Shear hulk, an old ship fitted with an apparatus to fix or
take out the masts of a ship.
The hulks, old or dismasted ships, formerly used as
prisons. [Eng.] --Dickens.
[1913 Webster]