schier

From Middle High German schier, from Old High German skiaro (“fast, immediately”). Cognate with German schier.

• IPA^(key): /ʃiər/

schier

1. almost, nearly

• IPA^(key): /sxiːr/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: schier
• Rhymes: -iːr

From Middle Dutch schiere, from Old Dutch *skīr, from Proto-Germanic *skīriz.

schier

1. (formal) almost
2. (obsolete) quickly

• schiereiland

schier (not comparable)

1. (archaic, dialectal) fast, quick

From Middle Dutch schier, from Old Dutch scieri, from Proto-Germanic .

schier (not comparable)

1. (dialectal) neat, tidy, proper
2. (archaic, dialectal) grey, in particular light grey
3. (dialectal, especially of soil) infertile
4. (dialectal, of cattle) lean, well-shaped, not fat
5. (obsolete) white

• Schiermonnikoog

• IPA^(key): /ʃiːɐ̯/

From Middle High German schir (“immediate, quick”) (adv. schire), Old High German skeri (“sharp, acute, quick, rapid”), likely cognate with Old Church Slavonic скоръ (skorŭ, “rapid”) (Russian ско́рый (skóryj)), Lithuanian skėrỹs (“grasshopper”), Ancient Greek σκαίρειν (skaírein, “to jump”); if so, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerd- (“to move, sway, swing, jump”).^[1]

Grimm assumes partial conflation with scheir (“pure, bright”) (English sheer).

schier (strong nominative masculine singular schierer, comparative schierer, superlative am schiersten)

1. next, adjacent, immediate, soon, sudden

schier

1. soon, nearly, almost

   Synonyms: fast, beinahe

   • 1545, Martin Luther, transl., Biblia: Das ist: Die gantze Heilige Schrifft, Deudsch, Auffs new zugericht, Isaiah 21:11:

     Hüter ist die nacht schier hin?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Borrowed from Low German, adopted in High German in the 18th century, the High German equivalent scheir gradually falling out of use; or from Middle High German schīr, all ultimately from the root of scheinen (“to shine”).

Cognate with scheuern (“to scour”), English sheer, Proto-Germanic *skīriz (“pure, sheer”).

schier (strong nominative masculine singular schierer, comparative schierer, superlative am schiersten)

1. pure, clear, bright, sheer

   Synonyms: bloß, rein

2. (of meat) without bones, fat, or tendons

• “schier, fast, nahezu” in Duden online
• “schier, bloß, genuin, pur” in Duden online
• “schier” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

From Middle Low German schîr, from Old Saxon skīr, Proto-West Germanic *skīr, from Proto-Germanic *skīriz, from Proto-Indo-European *sḱēy- (“luster, gloss, shadow”).

• IPA^(key): /ʃiːɾ/

schier (comparative schierer, superlative schierst)

1. pure, clear, bright, sheer
2. clean
3. neat, tidy
4. pure, unmixed, unblended
5. (together with maken) finished, disposed, clean

• Der neue SASS: Plattdeutsches Wörterbuch, Plattdeutsch - Hochdeutsch, Hochdeutsch - Plattdeutsch. Plattdeutsche Rechtschreibung, sixth revised edition (2011, →ISBN, Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster)