tear

tear
    n 1: a drop of the clear salty saline solution secreted by the
         lacrimal glands; "his story brought tears to her eyes"
         [syn: {tear}, {teardrop}]
    2: an opening made forcibly as by pulling apart; "there was a
       rip in his pants"; "she had snags in her stockings" [syn:
       {rip}, {rent}, {snag}, {split}, {tear}]
    3: an occasion for excessive eating or drinking; "they went on a
       bust that lasted three days" [syn: {bust}, {tear}, {binge},
       {bout}]
    4: the act of tearing; "he took the manuscript in both hands and
       gave it a mighty tear"
    v 1: separate or cause to separate abruptly; "The rope snapped";
         "tear the paper" [syn: {tear}, {rupture}, {snap}, {bust}]
    2: to separate or be separated by force; "planks were in danger
       of being torn from the crossbars"
    3: move quickly and violently; "The car tore down the street";
       "He came charging into my office" [syn: {tear}, {shoot},
       {shoot down}, {charge}, {buck}]
    4: strip of feathers; "pull a chicken"; "pluck the capon" [syn:
       {pluck}, {pull}, {tear}, {deplume}, {deplumate}, {displume}]
    5: fill with tears or shed tears; "Her eyes were tearing"
    

Tear \Tear\ (t[=e]r), n. [AS. te['a]r; akin to G. z[aum]rhe,
   OHG. zahar, OFries. & Icel. t[=a]r, Sw. t[*a]r, Dan. taare,
   Goth. tagr, OIr. d[=e]r, W. dagr, OW. dacr, L. lacrima,
   lacruma, for older dacruma, Gr. da`kry, da`kryon, da`kryma.
   [root]59. Cf. {Lachrymose}.]
   1. (Physiol.) 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.
      [1913 Webster]

            And yet for thee ne wept she never a tear.
                                                  --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Let Araby extol her happy coast,
            Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious tears.
                                                  --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge.
      [R.] "Some melodous tear." --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Glass Manuf.) A partially vitrified bit of clay in glass.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   Note: Tear is sometimes used in the formation of
         self-explaining compounds; as, tear-distilling,
         tear-drop, tear-filled, tear-stained, and the like.
         [1913 Webster]

   {Tears of St. Lawrence}, the Perseid shower of meteors, seen
      every year on or about the eve of St. Lawrence, August
      9th.

   {Tears of wine}, drops which form and roll down a glass above
      the surface of strong wine. The phenomenon is due to the
      evaporation of alcohol from the surface layer, which,
      becoming more watery, increases in surface tension and
      creeps up the sides until its weight causes it to break.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
    

Tear \Tear\, n.
   The act of tearing, or the state of being torn; a rent; a
   fissure. --Macaulay.
   [1913 Webster]

   {Wear and tear}. See under {Wear}, n.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Tear \Tear\ (t[^a]r), v. t. [imp. {Tore} (t[=o]r), ((Obs.
   {Tare}) (t[^a]r); p. p. {Torn} (t[=o]rn); p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Tearing}.] [OE. teren, AS. teran; akin to OS. farterian to
   destroy, D. teren to consume, G. zerren to pull, to tear,
   zehren to consume, Icel. t>ae/ra, Goth. gata['i]ran to
   destroy, Lith. dirti to flay, Russ. drate to pull, to tear,
   Gr. de`rein to flay, Skr. dar to burst. [root]63. Cf. {Darn},
   {Epidermis}, {Tarre}, {Tirade}.]
   1. 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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Tear him to pieces; he's a conspirator. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Hence, to divide by violent measures; to disrupt; to rend;
      as, a party or government torn by factions.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To rend away; to force away; to remove by force; to
      sunder; as, a child torn from its home.
      [1913 Webster]

            The hand of fate
            Hath torn thee from me.               --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To pull with violence; as, to tear the hair.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To move violently; to agitate. "Once I loved torn ocean's
      roar." --Byron.
      [1913 Webster]

   {To tear a cat}, to rant violently; to rave; -- especially
      applied to theatrical ranting. [Obs.] --Shak.

   {To tear down}, to demolish violently; to pull or pluck down.
      

   {To tear off}, to pull off by violence; to strip.

   {To tear out}, to pull or draw out by violence; as, to tear
      out the eyes.

   {To tear up}, to rip up; to remove from a fixed state by
      violence; as, to tear up a floor; to tear up the
      foundation of government or order.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Tear \Tear\, v. i.
   1. To divide or separate on being pulled; to be rent; as,
      this cloth tears easily.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To move and act with turbulent violence; to rush with
      violence; hence, to rage; to rave.
      [1913 Webster]
    

370 Moby Thesaurus words for "tear":
      abrade, abrasion, amputate, assault, attack, autacoid, ax,
      bacchanal, bacchanalia, bacchanalian, ball the jack, barbarize,
      bark, barrel, bat, batter, bawling, bender, bile, binge, bisect,
      blemish, bloody, blubbering, boil, bolt, boom, booze, bout,
      bowl along, breach, break, breakage, breeze, breeze along, broach,
      brush, brutalize, bundle, burn, burst, bust, bustle, butcher,
      buzz about, career, carousal, carouse, carry on, carve,
      celebration, chafe, chalone, charge, chase, check, chink, chip,
      chop, chyle, claw, cleave, cleft, clip, colostrum, compotation,
      concussion, crack, crackle, craze, crevasse, crowd, cry, crying,
      cut, cut along, cut away, cut in two, cut off, cut open, damage,
      dart, dash, dash off, dash on, debauch, destroy, devil,
      dichotomize, digestive secretion, discharge, dispart, dissever,
      divaricate, divide, double-time, drinking bout, drunk,
      drunken carousal, endocrine, escapade, evulse, excise, excrete,
      festinate, fissure, fit of crying, flash burn, fleet, fling, flit,
      flood of tears, flutter, fly, fly low, fly open, fracture, fray,
      frazzle, fret, fuss, gall, gallop, gap, gash, gastric juice,
      get going, get moving, give out, gleet, go fast, go on, good cry,
      gore, greet, guzzle, hack, halve, hammer, haste, hasten, hew, hie,
      highball, hole, hormone, humor, hump, hump it, hurry, hurry about,
      hurry on, hurry through, hurry up, hurry-scurry, hurt, hurtle,
      hustle, ichor, impair, incise, incision, injure, injury,
      intestinal juice, jag, jigsaw, lacerate, laceration, lachryma,
      lachrymosity, lacrimatory, lactate, lactation, lance, lark, lash,
      lay open, lay waste, leap, lesion, leukorrhea, loot, lose no time,
      lymph, maim, make a fuss, make haste, make knots,
      make mincemeat of, mangle, matter, maul, melting mood, milk,
      mortal wound, move quickly, mucor, mucus, mug, mutilate,
      mutilation, nip, np, ope, open, open up, orgy, outstrip the wind,
      overflowing eyes, pancreatic juice, pare, part, peccant humor,
      phlegm, pierce, pillage, ploy, plunge, post, potation, pour it on,
      press on, produce, prostatic fluid, prune, pub-crawl, pull,
      pull apart, puncture, purulence, pus, push on, race, rage, ramp,
      rampage, randan, randy, rant, rape, rave, rend, rent, revel, rheum,
      ribbon, rift, riot, rip, rive, roar, ruin, run, rupture, rush,
      rush about, rush around, rush through, sack, saliva,
      salivary secretion, sanies, savage, saw, scald, scale, scamper,
      scissor, scoot, scorch, score, scotch, scour, scramble, scrape,
      scratch, scud, scuff, scurry, scuttle, secern, second-degree burn,
      secrete, semen, separate, serous fluid, serum, sever, shoot, shred,
      sizzle, skedaddle, skim, skin, slash, slaughter, slice, slit,
      snatch, snip, sniveling, snot, sobbing, sore, sow chaos, speed,
      sperm, splinter, split, sprain, spread, spread out, spree,
      spring open, sprint, spurt, stab, stab wound, step on it, stick,
      storm, storm along, strain, sunder, suppuration, sweat, sweep,
      swing open, symposium, tap, tear along, tear around, tear bottle,
      tear open, teardrop, tearful eyes, tearfulness, tears, terrorize,
      the whites, third-degree burn, throw open, thunder along, thyroxin,
      toot, trauma, traumatize, urine, vandalize, violate, wassail,
      water, weep, weepiness, weeping, whimpering, whisk, whittle, whiz,
      whiz about, wingding, wound, wounds immedicable, wreck, wrench,
      yank, zing, zip, zoom