shearer

Etymology

It is formed from English shear + -er,^[2][3] in Middle English sherer from sheren (“to shear”).^[4] It is recorded as a surname by the late 13th century, as “Matilda le Scherer”.^[3] The verb goes back to Old English sceran (“to cut, shear”), from Proto-Germanic *skeraną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *sker- (“to cut”).^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A reaper of standing crops: 1318–9, in a record printed by the Shropshire Archaeological Society.^[2] Etymonline adds the senses of sheep-shearer and perhaps barber for the early word.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the uses of the verb, so that the first shearers cut grain as well as fleece: the reaper is recorded from 1318–9 and the person who clips an animal's fleece from 1388, in the later Wycliffite Bible.^[2] Other trades followed: one who removed the nap from cloth, from 1473 to 1679, in Scottish treasury accounts,^[2] and one who cuts metal, from about 1881.^[2] From 1610 to 1683 it was also a word for an incisor tooth.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as one who clips with shears, particularly one who fleeces sheep, quoting Milton's "shearers feast".^[6] Machines took the name in 1890, for one that cuts metal, and in 1956, for one that cuts along a coal face.^[2] Slang played on the fleecing of a "sheep" or sucker: a shearer was a confidence trickster in 1827, and in Australia a bookmaker in 1902.^[7]

Timeline

• 1318–9 – a reaper of standing crops.^[2]
• 1388 – one who removes an animal's fleece.^[2]
• 1473 – one who shears the nap of cloth (obsolete by 1679).^[2]
• 1610 – an incisor tooth (obsolete by 1683).^[2]
• 1827 – slang, a confidence trickster.^[7]
• c. 1881 – a worker who shears metal.^[2]
• 1890 – a machine for cutting metal.^[2]
• 1902 – Australian slang, a bookmaker.^[7]
• 1956 – a coal-cutting machine.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who shears sheep or other animals for their fleece: A skilled shearer can clip a ewe in under two minutes.^[4][2][6]
2. A worker who cuts metal, textiles, leather or other materials with shears.^[4][2]
3. A machine that shears, especially one that cuts metal or cuts along a coal face.^[4][2]
4. A sheep or other animal that is ready for shearing or yields a good fleece.^[4]
5. A reaper of standing crops.^[2]
6. (slang) A confidence trickster; in Australia, a bookmaker.^[7]

Word family

• sheepshearer

Related words

• shear
• shears

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com