tear

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of tearing

   They took the manuscript in both hands and gave it a mighty tear.

2. 2
   noun

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

   The story brought tears to their eyes.

3. 3
   verb

   fill with tears or shed tears

   My eyes were tearing after the movie.

4. 4
   verb

   To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.

   He tore his coat on the nail.

5. 5
   verb

   To injure as if by pulling apart.

   He tore some muscles in a weight-lifting accident.

6. 6
   verb

   To destroy or reduce abstract unity or coherence, such as social, political or emotional.

   He was torn by conflicting emotions.

7. 7
   verb

   To make (an opening) with force or energy.

   A piece of debris tore a tiny straight channel through the satellite.

8. 8
   verb

   To remove by tearing, or with sudden great force.

   Tear the coupon out of the newspaper.

Etymology

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…