Pure; clear; bright; shining.Uncombined with anything else; simple; mere; bare; by itself.Absolute; utter; downright: as, sheer nonsense or ignorance; sheer waste; sheer stupidity.Straight up or straight down; perpendicular; precipitous; unobstructed: as, a sheer descent.Very thin and delicate; diaphanous: especially said of cambric or muslin.Quite; right; straight; clean.To make pure; clear; purify.An obsolete spelling of shear.Nautical, to swerve or deviate from a line or course; turn aside or away, as for the purpose of avoiding collision or other danger: as, to sheer off from a rock.n. The rise from a horizontal plane of the longitudinal lines of a ship as seen in looking along its side.n. The position in which a ship at single anchor is placed to keep her clear of the anchor.n. The paint-strake or sheer-strake of a vessel.n. A curving course or sweep; a deviation or divergence from a particular course.n. A light scaffold, usually with three inclined legs, on which miners stand in drilling to get above the drill-rod.