From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsheersheer1 /ʃɪə $ ʃɪr/ ●●○ adjective 1 → the sheer weight/size etc2 → sheer luck/happiness/stupidity etc3 VERTICALa sheer drop, cliff, slope etc is very steep and almost vertical4 TIMSEEsheer nylon, silk etc is very thin and fine, so that it is almost transparent sheer stockings
Examples from the Corpus
sheer• For sheer cleverness she could run rings around them all.• Teetering on the sheer cliff, Tallis peered down at the river.• The coastguard duties included patrolling paths at the top of high and sheer cliffs - not a job for the faint-hearted.• The coastguard patrols paths at the top of high and sheer cliffs.• sheer curtains• Tennis courts lit pointlessly except to inform the driver of the sheer dimension of the leisure complex burst into life.• I stood at the edge of the old chalk quarry, with a sheer drop of ten or twenty metres below me.• What he lacked in aesthetic grace Bob Willis made up in speed, determination and sheer guts.• For the rest of the programme was sheer hagiography.• Immense and sheer, the mountains emerge from a fog of silk.sheersheer2 adverb VERTICALstraight up or down in an almost vertical line SYN steeply cliffs which rose sheer from the seaExamples from the Corpus
sheer• On their left it sloped gently away and on the right it fell sheer, in steep crags.sheersheer3 verb [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to change direction suddenly, especially in order to avoid something SYN swervesheer off/away The boat sheered away and headed out to sea.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
sheer• Rimmed by a waist-high balustrade, the garden sheers down some twenty feet.• I checked the needles more thoroughly and discovered that the very tip of the latch of a needle was sheered off.• Finally on the fourth day one of the anchor ropes sheered through and we lost that anchor to the gale.sheer off/away• I checked the needles more thoroughly and discovered that the very tip of the latch of a needle was sheered off.Origin sheer (1500-1600) Probably from Old Norse skærr “pure” 