Sheer Definition
Other Word Forms of Sheer
Noun
Adjective
Origin of Sheer
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From Middle English shere, scheere, schere, skere, from Old English *scÇ£re; merged with Middle English shire, schire, schyre, shir, from Old English scÄ«r (“clear, bright; brilliant, gleaming, shining, splendid, resplendent; pure") and Old Norse skírr (“pure, bright, clear"), both from Proto-Germanic *skÄ«riz (“pure, sheer") and *skairiz, from Proto-Indo-European *sḱēy- (“luster, gloss, shadow"). Cognate with Danish skær, German schier (“sheer"), Dutch schier (“almost"), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐍃 (skeirs, “clear, lucid"). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian hirrë (“whey, serum").
From Wiktionary
Obsolete shere thin, clear partly from Middle English shir bright, clear (from Old English scīr) and partly from Middle English skir bright, clean (from Old Norse skærr)
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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Probably partly from Low German scheren to move to and fro (said of boats) and partly from Dutch scheren to withdraw sker-1 in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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Perhaps from Dutch scheren (“to move aside, skim"); see also shear.
From Wiktionary
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