From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Tear \Tear\ (t[^a]r), verb (used with an object) [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.
Tear him to pieces; he's a conspirator. --Shak.
2. Hence, to divide by violent measures; to disrupt; to rend; as, a party or government torn by factions.
3. To rend away; to force away; to remove by force; to sunder; as, a child torn from its home.
The hand of fate Hath torn thee from me. --Addison.
4. To pull with violence; as, to tear the hair.
5. To move violently; to agitate. ''Once I loved torn ocean's roar.'' --Byron.
{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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a drop of the clear salty saline solution secreted by the lacrimal glands; "his story brought tears to her eyes" [syn: {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}]
3: an occasion for excessive eating or drinking; "they went on a bust that lasted three days" [syn: {bust}, {binge}, {bout}]
4: the act of tearing; "he took the manuscript in both hands and gave it a mighty tear"
verb
1: separate or cause to separate abruptly; "The rope snapped"; "tear the paper" [syn: {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: {shoot}, {shoot down}, {charge}, {buck}]
4: strip of feathers; "pull a chicken"; "pluck the capon" [syn: {pluck}, {pull}, {deplume}, {deplumate}, {displume}]
5: fill with tears or shed tears; "Her eyes were tearing" [also: {torn}, {tore}]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: having edges that are jagged from injury [syn: {lacerate}, {lacerated}, {mangled}]
2: disrupted by the pull of contrary forces; "torn between love and hate"; "torn by conflicting loyalties"; "torn by religious dissensions"
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
93 Moby Thesaurus words for "torn": affected, aggravated, agonized, alienated, broken, burned, burst, busted, checked, chipped, cleft, cloven, cracked, crazed, cut, damaged, deteriorated, devoured by, disaffected, disunited, divided, dowdy, down-at-heel, down-at-the-heels, embittered, estranged, exacerbated, frayed, frazzled, full of holes, harmed, holey, hurt, imbued with, impaired, imperfect, impressed, impressed with, in bits, in pieces, in rags, in shards, in shreds, in tatters, injured, irreconcilable, irritated, lacerate, lacerated, mangled, moved, mutilated, obsessed, obsessed by, patchy, penetrated with, quartered, racked, ragged, raggedy, ratty, rent, riven, ruptured, scalded, scorched, scruffy, seedy, seized with, separated, severed, shabby, shattered, shoddy, shredded, slashed, slit, smashed, splintered, split, sprung, stricken, tacky, tattered, tatty, the worse for, tortured, touched, weakened, worse, worse off, worsened, wracked
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