Tearing

Tearing

Tearing is the act of breaking apart a material by force, without the aid of a cutting tool. A tear in a piece of paper, fabric, or some other similar object may be the result of the intentional effort with one's bare hands, or be accidental. Unlike a cut, which is generally on a straight or patterned line controlled by a tool such as scissors, a tear is generally uneven and, for the most part, unplanned. An exception is a tear along a perforated line, as found on a roll of toilet paper or paper towels, which has been previously partially cut, so the effort of tearing will probably produce a straight line.

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Famous quotes containing the word tearing:

    Pray, let us live without being drawn by dogs, Esquimaux- fashion, tearing over hill and dale, and biting each other’s ears.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    I am tearing the feathers out of the pillows,
    waiting, waiting for Daddy to come home
    and stuff me so full of our infected child
    that I turn invisible, but married,
    at last.
    Anne Sexton (1928–1974)

    Now I hold Creation in my foot

    Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly—
    I kill where I please because it is all mine.
    There is no sophistry in my body:
    My manners are tearing off heads—

    The allotment of death.
    Ted Hughes (b. 1930)