Definitions for tear
tɪərtear

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. tear, teardropnoun

   a drop of the clear salty saline solution secreted by the lacrimal glands

   "his story brought tears to her eyes"

2. rip, rent, snag, split, tearnoun

   an opening made forcibly as by pulling apart

   "there was a rip in his pants"; "she had snags in her stockings"

3. bust, tear, binge, boutnoun

   an occasion for excessive eating or drinking

   "they went on a bust that lasted three days"

4. tearverb

   the act of tearing

   "he took the manuscript in both hands and gave it a mighty tear"

5. tear, rupture, snap, bustverb

   separate or cause to separate abruptly

   "The rope snapped"; "tear the paper"

6. tearverb

   to separate or be separated by force

   "planks were in danger of being torn from the crossbars"

7. tear, shoot, shoot down, charge, buckverb

   move quickly and violently

   "The car tore down the street"; "He came charging into my office"

8. pluck, pull, tear, deplume, deplumate, displumeverb

   strip of feathers

   "pull a chicken"; "pluck the capon"

9. tearverb

   fill with tears or shed tears

   "Her eyes were tearing"

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. To Tear

   pret. tore, anciently tare, part. pass. torn;

   Etymology: tæran , Saxon; tara, Swedish.

   1. To pull in pieces; to lacerate; to rend; to separate by violent pulling.

   Come feeling night,
   And with thy bloody and invisible hand
   Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
   Which keeps me pale. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

   The one went out from me; and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces, and I saw him not since. Gen. xliv. 28.

   John tore off lord Strutt’s servants cloaths: now and then they came home naked. John Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull.

   Ambassadors sent to Carthage were like to be torn to pieces by the populace. Arbuthnot.

   2. To laniate; to wound with any sharp point drawn along.

   Old with dust deform’d their hoary hair,
   The women beat their breasts, their cheeks they tare. William Shakespeare.

   Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning to comfort them for the dead. Jer. xvi. 7.

   3. To break by violence.

   In the midst a tearing groan did break
   The name of Antony. William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra.

   As storms the skies, and torrents tear the ground,
   Thus rag’d the prince, and scatter’d death around. Dryden.

   Blush rather, that you are a slave to passion,
   Which, like a whirlwind, tears up all your virtues,
   And gives you not the leisure to consider. Ambrose Philips.

   4. To divide violently; to shatter.

   Is it not as much reason to say, that God destroys fatherly authority, when he suffers one in possession of it to have his government torn in pieces, and shared by his subjects. John Locke.

   5. To pull with violence; to drive violently.

   He roar’d, he beat his breast, he tore his hair. Dryden.

   From harden’d oak, or from a rock’s cold womb,
   At least thou art from some fierce tygress come;
   Or on rough seas from their foundation torn,
   Got by the winds, and in a tempest born. Dryden.

   6. To take away by sudden violence.

   Solyman
   Rhodes and Buda from the Christians tore. Edmund Waller.

   The hand of fate
   Has torn thee from me, and I must forget thee. Addison.

2. Tearnoun

   Etymology: tear , Saxon; taare, Danish.

   1. The water which violent passion forces from the eyes.

   She comes; and I’ll prepare
   My tear stain’d eyes to see her miseries. William Shakespeare.

   The pretty vaulting sea refus’d to drown me,
   Knowing, that thou would’st have me drown’d on shore
   With tears as salt as sea, through thy unkindness. William Shakespeare.

   Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear
   In all my miseries; but thou hast forc’d me.
   Lets dry our eyes. William Shakespeare, Henry VIII.

   Tears are the effects of compression of the moisture of the brain upon dilation of the spirits. Francis Bacon, Nat. Hist.

   She silently a gentle tear let fall. John Milton.

   2. Any moisture trickling in drops.

   Let Araby extol her happy coast,
   Her fragrant flow’rs, her trees with precious tears,
   Her second harvests. Dryden.

3. Tearnoun

   A rent; a fissure.

   Etymology: from the verb.

4. To Tearverb

   To fume; to rave; to rant turbulently.

   Etymology: tieren, Dutch.

   All men transported into outrages for small trivial matters, fall under the inuendo of this bull, that ran tearing mad for the pinching of a mouse. Roger L'Estrange, Fables.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. tear

   A tear is a drop of clear salty liquid produced from the lachrymal glands located in the eyes, often in response to emotions such as sadness, happiness, or physical pain. It can also be a result of irritation to the eye. Alternatively, 'tear' can refer to the act of ripping or pulling apart something by force.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Tearnoun

   a drop of the limpid, saline fluid secreted, normally in small amount, by the lachrymal gland, and diffused between the eye and the eyelids to moisten the parts and facilitate their motion. Ordinarily the secretion passes through the lachrymal duct into the nose, but when it is increased by emotion or other causes, it overflows the lids

2. Tearnoun

   something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins

3. Tearnoun

   that which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge

4. Tearverb

   to separate by violence; to pull apart by force; to rend; to lacerate; as, to tear cloth; to tear a garment; to tear the skin or flesh

5. Tearverb

   hence, to divide by violent measures; to disrupt; to rend; as, a party or government torn by factions

6. Tearverb

   to rend away; to force away; to remove by force; to sunder; as, a child torn from its home

7. Tearverb

   to pull with violence; as, to tear the hair

8. Tearverb

   to move violently; to agitate

9. Tearverb

   to divide or separate on being pulled; to be rent; as, this cloth tears easily

10. Tearverb

    to move and act with turbulent violence; to rush with violence; hence, to rage; to rave

11. Tearnoun

    the act of tearing, or the state of being torn; a rent; a fissure

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:2.0 / 2 votes

1. Tear

   tēr, n. a drop of the fluid secreted by the lachrymal gland, appearing in the eyes: anything like a tear.—ns. Tear′-drop, a tear; Tear′-duct, the lachrymal or nasal duct.—adjs. Tear′-fall′ing (Shak.), shedding tears, tender; Tear′ful, abounding with or shedding tears: weeping.—adv. Tear′fully.—n. Tear′fulness.—adjs. Tear′less, without tears: unfeeling; Tear′-stained (Shak.), stained with tears; Tear′y, tearful, [A.S. teár, tǽr; Goth. tagr; cf. L. lacrima, Gr. dakru.]

2. Tear

   tār, v.t. to draw asunder or separate with violence: to make a violent rent in: to lacerate.—v.i. to move or act with violence: to rage:—pa.t. tōre, (B.) tāre; pa.p. tōrn.—n. something torn, a rent: (slang) a spree.—n. Tear′er, one who, or that which, tears: (slang) a boisterous person.—p.adj. Tear′ing, great, terrible, rushing.—Tear and wear (see Wear); Tear one's self away, to go off with great unwillingness; Tear the hair, to pull the hair in a frenzy of grief or rage; Tear up, to remove from a fixed state by violence: to pull to pieces. [A.S. teran; cf. Ger. zehren.]

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. TEAR

   What does TEAR stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the TEAR acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. TEAR

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Tear is ranked #82044 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Tear surname appeared 230 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Tear.
   
   79.5% or 183 total occurrences were White.
   14.3% or 33 total occurrences were Asian.
   3.9% or 9 total occurrences were Black.

Matched Categories

1. • Cry
   • Revelry
   • Rush
   • Separate
   • Strip

British National Corpus

1. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tear' in Nouns Frequency: #944

2. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tear' in Verbs Frequency: #576

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Anagrams for tear »

1. rate

2. tera

3. tare

How to pronounce tear?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say tear in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of tear in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of tear in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of tear in a Sentence

1. Ryan Gosling:

   I heard [the authorities] were going to tear them down, i had to shoot them before they did.

2. Beau Biden:

   The day will come, as hard as it is to believe, when his memory brings a smile to your lips and a tear to your eyes. It takes time, in my experience, it takes getting through every season at least once, but it will come. It will come. And that's when you know you'll be all right.

3. Anna Galland:

   I think if you asked someone on the street, 'Is it a political question whether we should tear babies out of their mother's arms?' they would say, 'No, that's a moral question,' and this is a moment of moral outrage.

4. Hillary Clinton:

   I do not want to see the Republicans repeal it, and I don’t want to see us start over again with a contentious debate, to tear it up and start over again … I think is the wrong direction.

5. President Obama:

   What greater rejection of those who would tear down our world than marshaling our best efforts to save it?

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=tear
2. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=tear
3. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
4. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tear
5. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=tear
6. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html
7. ^ Usage in printed sources
   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=tear