sheer

Meanings

Adjective

• Very thin or transparent.
• Pure in composition; unmixed; unadulterated.
• Downright; complete; pure.
• Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.

Adverb

• Clean; quite; at once.

Noun

• A sheer curtain or fabric.
• The curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern.
• An abrupt swerve from the course of a ship.

Verb

• To swerve from a course.
• To shear.

Related

Similar words

• diaphanous, see-through, thin
• pure, undiluted
• downright, mere (obsolete), pure, unmitigated
• perpendicular, steep, vertical

Origin

• From Middle English shere, scheere, schere, skere, from Old English sċǣre; merged with Middle English schyre, schire, shire, shir, from Old English sċīr ("clear, bright; brilliant, gleaming, shining, splendid, resplendent; pure") and Middle English skyr, from Old Norse skírr ("pure, bright, clear"), both from Proto-Germanic *skīriz ("pure, sheer") and *skairiz, from Proto-Indo-European *sḱēy- ("luster, gloss, shadow").
• Cognate with Danish skær, German schier ("sheer"), Dutch schier ("almost"), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐍃 ("clear, lucid"). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian hir ("grace, beauty; goodwill").
• Perhaps from Dutch scheren ("to move aside, skim"); see also shear.