tear

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To pull or rip something apart, often by accident.

   He tore his coat on a nail by the gate.

2. 2
   noun

   A drop of salty liquid that comes from your eye when you cry.

   The sad film brought tears to her eyes.

3. 3
   verb

   To pull something off or out with sudden force.

   She tore the coupon out of the newspaper.

4. 4
   noun

   A hole or split made by ripping.

   There's a small tear in the sleeve of my shirt.

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”), Alba…

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