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.
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 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.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
2
To injure as if by pulling apart.
He tore some muscles in a weight-lifting accident.
3
To destroy or reduce abstract unity or coherence, such as social, political or emotional.
He was torn by conflicting emotions.
4
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.
1 more example
The artillery tore a gap in the line.
5
Often, With off or out To remove by tearing, or with sudden great force.
Tear the coupon out of the newspaper.
[A] surge of muddy water tore him free from his sandy nook and tumbled him down the gully.2012, Max Overton, Horemheb:
6
With down, Of structures To demolish.
The slums were torn down to make way for the new development.
7
To become torn, especially accidentally.
My dress has torn.
8
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.
3 more examples
He tore into the backlog of complaints.
I waited to hear no more, but tore up the village to find Poirot.1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 133:
I've been tearing around in my fucking nightgown. 24/7 Sylvia Plath.2019, Lana Del Rey, Hope Is a Dangerous Thing:
9
To smash or enter something with great force.
The chain shot tore into the approaching line of infantry.
From Middle English tear, teer, teere, ter, tere, tyar, tyear, tyer, tær (“tear”), from Old English teagor, tēar, tæher, from Proto-West Germanic *tahr, from Proto-Germanic *tahrą (“tear”), from Proto-Indo-European *dáḱru- (“tear”). Cognates Cognate with German Zähre (“tear”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk tåre (“tear”), Faroese and Icelandic tár (“tear”), Swedish tår (“tear”), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐍂 (tagr, “teardrop”); also Cornish dager (“tear; drop”), Irish deoir (“tear”), Manx jeir (“tear”), Scottish Gaelic deur (“tear; drop”), Welsh deigryn (“tear”), Latin dacrima, dacruma, lachryma, lacrima, lacruma, lacryma (“tear”), Greek δάκρυ (dákry, “tear”), Armenian արտոսր (artosr, “tear”).
1
A drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the eyes by crying or irritation.
Big tears streamed from Lisa's eyes, rolling down her cheeks.
Ryan wiped the tear from the paper he was crying on.
2 more examples
I pray you in your Letters, / When you ſhall theſe vnluckie deeds relate, / Speake of me, as I am. […] / Of one, whoſe ſubdu'd Eyes, / Albeit un-vsed to the melting moode, / Drops teares as faſt as the Arabian Trees / Their Medicinable gumme.1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act V, scene ii, page 338:
'[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because "it was wicked to dress us like charity children".[…]'1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
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.
Let Araby extol her happy coast, / Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious tears.1717, William Congreve, Samuel Croxall, John Dryden, Laurence Eusden, John Ozell, “Book X”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
3
A partially vitrified bit of clay in glass.
Glass manufacture
4
That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge.
Without meed of some melodious tear. Begin then, Sisters of the sacred well [...]1637, John Milton, “Lycidas”, in Justa Edouardo King Naufrago, Cambridge: Printed by Thomas Buck, and Roger Daniel, published 1638, page 131: