From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishshearshear /ʃɪə $ ʃɪr/ verb (past tense sheared, past participle sheared or shorn /ʃɔːn $ ʃɔːrn/) [transitive] 1 TAto cut the wool off a sheep2 literaryCUT to cut off someone’s hair Her long fair hair had been shorn.3 → be shorn of something → shear off→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
shear• Farmers son Paul has never sheared a sheep before.• We also had to shear and dip them every year and friends would come to help.• The tornado sheared off part of the Swensons' roof.• Whatever had been on its prow was now gone, sheared off when the sleek vessel had been driven among the trees.• We listened to the horse as he drifted off to eat, his teeth shearing the grass.Origin shear Old English scieran 