pincers

American  

[pin-serz] / ˈpɪn sərz /

Also pinchers

noun

(usually used with a plural verb)

1. a gripping tool consisting of two pivoted limbs forming a pair of jaws and a pair of handles (usually used withpair of ).

2. Zoology. a grasping organ or pair of organs resembling this, as the claw of a lobster.

---

pincers British  

/ ˈpɪnsəz /

plural noun

1. Also called: pair of pincers.  a gripping tool consisting of two hinged arms with handles at one end and, at the other, curved bevelled jaws that close on the workpiece: used esp for extracting nails

2. the pair or pairs of jointed grasping appendages in lobsters and certain other arthropods

---

pincers Scientific  

/ pĭn′sərz /

1. A jointed grasping claw of certain animals, such as lobsters and scorpions.

---

Etymology

Origin of pincers

1300–50; Middle English pinsers, earlier pynceours, plural of *pinceour < Anglo-French pince ( r ) to pinch + -our -or ²

Example Sentences

Pincers of Technology Sir: A tremendous spiritual capacity persists in the simplest of minds, despite the almost overwhelming inhibition of the modern materialistic civilization.

From Time Magazine Archive

Pincers used after leather has been put on over raised bands in order to straighten them.

From Library Bookbinding by Bailey, Arthur Low

Pincers, pinch harder at the rushes, keep the light burning as long as possible, for each of us.

From Voices from the Past by Bartlett, Paul Alexander

He still had the first Dollar he ever made, and it could not have been taken away from him with Pincers.

From More Fables by Ade, George

Friedrich's situation, grasped in the Three-lipped Pincers in this manner, is conceivable to readers.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 20 by Carlyle, Thomas