All 3 Uses of
sheer
in
The Great Gatsby
- It was sharply different from the West, where an evening was hurried from phase to phase toward its close, in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself.
p. 12..6 (definition 1)sheer = complete
- I was on my way to get roaring drunk from sheer embarrassment when Jordan Baker came out of the house and stood at the head of the marble steps, leaning a little backward and looking with contemptuous interest down into the garden.
p. 42..6 (definition 1) *
- He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray.
p. 92..4 (definition 2) *sheer = thin
Definitions:
-
(1) (sheer as in: sheer fun) complete or pure -- without restriction, qualification, or other elements (used for emphasis)
-
(2) (sheer as in: a sheer blouse) typically of fabric: very thin and delicate -- often transparent