Definition of sheer

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