sheer

Etymology 1

From Middle English shere, scheere, schere, skere, from Old English sċear (“scissors, shears”); merged with Middle English schyre, schire, shire, shir, from Old English sċīr (“clear, bright; brilliant, gleaming, shining, splendid, resplendent; pure”) and Middle English skyr, from Old Norse skírr (“pure, bright, clear”), both from Proto-Germanic *skīriz (“pure, sheer”) and *skairiz, from Proto-Indo-European *sḱēy- (“luster, gloss, shadow”). Cognate with Danish skær, German schier (“sheer”), Dutch schier (“almost”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐍃 (skeirs, “clear, lucid”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian hir (“grace, beauty; goodwill”).

adj

1. (textiles) Very thin or transparent.
   Her light, sheer dress caught everyone’s attention.
   She sheathed her legs in the sheerest of the nylons that her father had brought back from the Continent, and slipped her feet into the toeless, high-heeled shoes of black suède. 1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 17, in The Subtle Minotaur
   She was cunningly dressed in a black, sheer gown with gold ornaments showing her figure to perfection. 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 53
2. (obsolete) Pure in composition; unmixed; unadulterated.
3. (by extension) Downright; complete; pure.
   I think it is sheer genius to invent such a thing.
   This poem is sheer nonsense.
   Through technological wizardry and sheer audacity, Google has shown how we can transform the intellectual riches of our libraries[…].
   That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired. And if the arts of humbleness failed him, he overcame you by sheer impudence. 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp
   Cycling's complex etiquette contains an unwritten rule that riders in contention for a race win should not be penalised for sheer misfortune. July 15 2012, Richard Williams, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track, Guardian Unlimited
4. Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something.
   The army's sheer size made it impossible to resist.
   Perhaps as startling as the sheer toll was the devastation to some of the state’s well-known locales. Boardwalks along the beach in Seaside Heights, Belmar and other towns on the Jersey Shore were blown away. Amusement parks, arcades and restaurants all but vanished. Bridges to barrier islands buckled, preventing residents from even inspecting the damage to their property. October 31 2012, David M. Halbfinger, “New Jersey Reels From Storm's Thrashing”, in New York Times, retrieved 2021-09-20
5. Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.
   It was a sheer drop of 180 feet.

adv

1. (archaic) Clean; completely; at once.
   Hector the ashen lance of Ajax smote / With his broad faulchion, at the nether end, / And lopp’d it sheer. 1791, William Cowper, The Iliad of Homer, translation of original by Homer, Book XVI
   Swift into the dark stream at once he fell, / As the red star at once falls swift and sheer / From sky to sea 1888, Francis Hastings Doyle, “Hylas”, in The Return of the Guards: And Other Poems, translation of original by Theocritus

noun

1. A sheer curtain or fabric.
   Use sheers to maximize natural light.
   Lightweight, tightly woven silkies, sheers, lingerie 1992, Tammy Young, Naomi Baker, Serged Garments in Minutes, page 22

Etymology 2

Perhaps from Dutch scheren (“to move aside, skim”); see also shear.

noun

1. (nautical) The curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern.
2. (nautical) An abrupt swerve from the course of a ship.

verb

1. (chiefly nautical) To swerve from a course.
   Seydlitz correctly identifies the larger shell splashes as coming from the two "large light cruisers" at the rear, and takes aim. Moments later, Courageous sheers out of line, smoke and steam venting through a massive hole in her side, the shells having blasted right through whatever excuse for armor was present and detonated amidst the boiler rooms. She is doomed. 17 October 2018, Drachinifel, 15:10 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original on 2022-08-04
2. Obsolete spelling of shear