Definition of Sheer

Sheer

1. Bright; clear; pure; unmixed.
2. Very thin or transparent; -- applied to fabrics; as, sheer muslin.
3. Being only what it seems to be; obvious; simple; mere; downright; as, sheer folly; sheer nonsense.
4. Stright up and down; vertical; prpendicular.
5. Clean; quite; at once.
6. To shear.
7. 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. The longitudinal upward curvature of the deck, gunwale, and lines of a vessel, as when viewed from the side.
9. The position of a vessel riding at single anchor and swinging clear of it.
10. A turn or change in a course.
11. Shears See Shear.