Shearings

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of cutting or clipping the fleece or hair from an animal, typically during the preparation for wool production
2. A quantity of material, such as wool or hair, that has been removed through the cutting process
3. The process or event of removing hair or fleece from livestock, often performed in agricultural settings

Etymology: "Shearings" is simply the plural of "shearing," the noun for the act of cutting the fleece off a sheep, or the material so cut. The noun is formed from "shear," a verb that goes back to Old English "sceran," meaning to cut or cut off, plus the suffix "-ing," which turns a verb into a noun naming an action or its result. The Middle English form "scherynge" shows the word already in use in that period, when the verb "shear" was still commonly applied to clipping sheep as well as to cutting cloth and hair. The plural form, "shearings," usually refers to the loose clippings themselves: the tufts of wool that fall to the floor of a shed when the fleece is removed. Because the word is built from a plain verb and a common suffix, its history is straightforward, and its meaning has stayed close to the literal sense of cutting.