Sheer
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( v. i.) Bright; clear; pure; unmixed.
(2): ( v. i.) Very thin or transparent; - applied to fabrics; as, sheer muslin.
(3): ( v. i.) Being only what it seems to be; obvious; simple; mere; downright; as, sheer folly; sheer nonsense.
(4): ( v. i.) Stright up and down; vertical; prpendicular.
(5): ( adv.) Clean; quite; at once.
(6): ( v. t.) To shear.
(7): ( v. i.) 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.
(8): ( n.) A turn or change in a course.
(9): ( n.) The longitudinal upward curvature of the deck, gunwale, and lines of a vessel, as when viewed from the side.
(10): ( n.) The position of a vessel riding at single anchor and swinging clear of it.
(11): ( n.) Shears See Shear.
King James Dictionary [2]
Sheer, a.
1. Pure clear separate from anything foreign unmingled as sheer ale. But this application is unusual. We saysheer argument, sheer wit, sheer falsehook, &c. 2. Clear thin as sheer muslin.
Sheer, adv. Clean quite at once. Obs.
Sheer, To sheer. Not in use.
Sheer, See Shear, the sense of which is to separate.
1. In seamen's language, to decline or deviate from the line of the proper course, as a ship when not steered with steadiness. 2. To slip or move aside.
