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}.
      
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            On his head came razor none, nor shear. --Chaucer.
      
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            Short of the wool, and naked from the shear.
                                                  --Dryden.
      
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   2. A shearing; -- used in designating the age of sheep.
      
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            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.
      
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   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}.
      
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   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.
      
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   {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.
      
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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.
      
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   2. A heavy ship of clumsy build. --Skeat.
      
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   3. Anything bulky or unwieldly. --Shak.
      
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   {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.
      
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