Shear

1. cut the wool off (a sheep or other animal).

   Paul has never sheared a sheep before

   demonstrations of sheep shearing

2. break off or cause to break off, owing to a structural strain.

   the gear sheared and jammed in the rear wheel

   three bolts had been completely sheared off

1. a strain produced by pressure in the structure of a substance, when its layers are laterally shifted in relation to each other.

   the water from the upper source is emitted at the same speed as the main flow; there is thus no shear

   aluminium is not very resilient to shear forces

Old English sceran (originally in the sense ‘cut through with a weapon’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German scheren, from a base meaning ‘divide, shear, shave’.