tear

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English teren, from Old English teran (“to tear, lacerate”), from Proto-Germanic *teraną (“to tear, tear apart, rip”), from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to tear, tear apart”). Cognate with Scots tere, teir, tair (“to rend, lacerate, wound, rip, tear out”), Dutch teren (“to eliminate, efface, live, survive by consumption”), German zehren (“to consume, misuse”), German zerren (“to tug, rip, tear”), Danish tære (“to consume”), Swedish tära (“to fret, consume, deplete, use up”), Icelandic tæra (“to clear, corrode”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Ancient Greek δέρω (dérō, “to skin”), Albanian ther (“to slay, skin, pierce”). Doublet of tire.

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: tâ, IPA(key): /tɛə/
  • (US) enPR: târ, IPA(key): /tɛɚ/
  • Audio (US), verb(file)

Verb

tear (third-person singular simple present tears, present participle tearing, simple past tore, past participle torn)

  1. (transitive) To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.
    • 1886, Eleanor Marx-Aveling, translator, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, 1856, Part III Chapter XI,
      He suffered, poor man, at seeing her so badly dressed, with laceless boots, and the arm-holes of her pinafore torn down to the hips; for the charwoman took no care of her.
    He tore his coat on the nail.
  2. (transitive) To injure as if by pulling apart.
    He has a torn ligament.
    He tore some muscles in a weight-lifting accident.
  3. (transitive) To destroy or reduce abstract unity or coherence, such as social, political or emotional.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.
    He was torn by conflicting emotions.
  4. (transitive) To make (an opening) with force or energy.
    A piece of debris tore a tiny straight channel through the satellite.
    His boss will tear him a new one when he finds out.
    The artillery tore a gap in the line.
  5. (transitive, often with off or out) To remove by tearing.
    Tear the coupon out of the newspaper.
  6. (transitive, of structures, with down) To demolish
    The slums were torn down to make way for the new development.
  7. (intransitive) To become torn, especially accidentally.
    My dress has torn.
  8. (intransitive) To move or act with great speed, energy, or violence.
    He went tearing down the hill at 90 miles per hour.
    The tornado lingered, tearing through town, leaving nothing upright.
    He tore into the backlog of complaints.
  9. (intransitive) To smash or enter something with great force.
    The chain shot tore into the approaching line of infantry.
Synonyms
  • (break): rend, rip
  • (remove by tearing): rip out, tear off, tear out
terms derived from tear (verb)
Translations

Noun

tear (plural tears)

  1. A hole or break caused by tearing.
    A small tear is easy to mend, if it is on the seam.
  2. (slang) A rampage.
    to go on a tear
Derived terms
Translations

Derived terms

Etymology 2
A girl producing tears

From Middle English teer, ter, tere, tear, from Old English tēar, tǣr, tæhher, teagor, *teahor (“drop; tear; what is distilled from anything in drops, nectar”), from Proto-Germanic *tahrą (“tear”), from Proto-Indo-European *dáḱru- (“tears”). Cognates include Old Norse tár (Danish tåre and Norwegian tåre), Old High German zahar (German Zähre), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐍂 (tagr) and Latin lacrima.

Pronunciation

Noun

tear (plural tears)

  1. A drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the eyes by crying or irritation.
    There were big tears rolling down Lisa's cheeks.
    Ryan wiped the tear from the paper he was crying on.
  2. Something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Dryden
      Let Araby extol her happy coast, / Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious tears.
  3. (glass manufacture) A partially vitrified bit of clay in glass.
  4. That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge.
    • 1637, John Milton, “Lycidas”, in Justa Edouardo King Naufrago, Cambridge: Printed by Thomas Buck, and Roger Daniel, published 1638, page 131:
      Without meed of some melodious tear. Begin then, Sisters of the sacred well [...]
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

tear (third-person singular simple present tears, present participle tearing, simple past and past participle teared)

  1. (intransitive) To produce tears.
    Her eyes began to tear in the harsh wind.
Translations

Anagrams

Galician
Tear ("loom")

Etymology

Tea (“cloth”) +‎ -ar. Compare Portuguese tear and Spanish telar.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /teˈaɾ/

Noun

tear m (plural teares)

  1. loom

References

Middle English

Noun

tear

  1. (Early Middle English) Alternative form of tere (“tear”)

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *tahrą. Germanic cognates include Old Frisian tār, Old High German zahar (German Zähre, originally plural), Old Norse tár (Swedish tår).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /tæːɑr/

Noun

tēar m

  1. tear (drop of liquid from the tear duct)

Descendants

Portuguese

Etymology

From teia +‎ -ar

Pronunciation

Noun

tear m (plural teares)

  1. loom (machine used to make cloth out of thread)

West Frisian

Etymology

Noun

tear c (plural tearen, diminutive tearke)

  1. fold
  2. crease

Further reading
  • “tear (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
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