*sheer*

a. [ OE. shere, skere, pure, bright, Icel. sk&unr_;rr; akin to skīrr, AS. scīr, OS. skīri, MHG. schīr, G. schier, Dan. sk&unr_;r, Sw. skär, Goth. skeirs clear, and E. shine. √157. See Shine, v. i. ] 1. Bright; clear; pure; unmixed. “Sheer ale.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou sheer, immaculate, and silver fountain. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Very thin or transparent; -- applied to fabrics; as, sheer muslin. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Being only what it seems to be; obvious; simple; mere; downright; as, sheer folly; sheer nonsense. “A sheer impossibility.” De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is not a sheer advantage to have several strings to one's bow. M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Stright up and down; vertical; prpendicular. [ 1913 Webster ]

A sheer precipice of a thousand feet. J. D. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

It was at least
Nine roods of sheer ascent. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Clean; quite; at once. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ See Shear. ] To shear. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Sheered p. pr. & vb. n. Sheering. ] [ D. sheren to shear, cut, withdraw, warp. See Shear. ] To decline or deviate from the line of the proper course; to turn aside; to swerve; as, a ship sheers from her course; a horse sheers at a bicycle. [ 1913 Webster ]

To sheer off, to turn or move aside to a distance; to move away. --
To sheer up, to approach obliquely. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Naut.) (a) The longitudinal upward curvature of the deck, gunwale, and lines of a vessel, as when viewed from the side. (b) The position of a vessel riding at single anchor and swinging clear of it. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A turn or change in a course. [ 1913 Webster ]

Give the canoe a sheer and get nearer to the shore. Cooper. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. pl. Shears See Shear. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sheer batten (Shipbuilding), a long strip of wood to guide the carpenters in following the sheer plan. --
Sheer boom, a boom slanting across a stream to direct floating logs to one side. --
Sheer hulk. See Shear hulk, under Hulk. --
Sheer plan, or
Sheer draught (Shipbuilding), a projection of the lines of a vessel on a vertical longitudinal plane passing through the middle line of the vessel. --
Sheer pole (Naut.), an iron rod lashed to the shrouds just above the dead-eyes and parallel to the ratlines. --
Sheer strake (Shipbuilding), the strake under the gunwale on the top side. Totten. --
To break sheer (Naut.), to deviate from sheer, and risk fouling the anchor. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. At once; absolutely. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The shearwater. [ 1913 Webster ]