secateurs

American  

[sek-uh-ter, -tur] / ˈsɛk ə tər, -ˌtɜr /

noun

(used with a singular or plural verb)

1. scissors or shears, especially pruning shears.

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secateurs British  

/ ˈsɛkətəz, ˌsɛkəˈtɜːz /

plural noun

1. a small pair of shears for pruning, having a pair of pivoted handles, sprung so that they are normally open, and usually a single cutting blade that closes against a flat surface

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Etymology

Origin of secateurs

1880–85; < French < Latin sec ( āre ) to cut ( see secant) + French -ateurs (plural) < Latin -ātor -ator

Example Sentences

If Serena wanted to commune with nature, she thought, she might as well take the secateurs with her and achieve something.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 21, 2019

Favorite tool: Corona classic hand pruners, which Huston calls by their British name: secateurs.

From Los Angeles Times • May 31, 2019

Or the thoughtfulness of Mr. Blondel, who, when he saw me struggling to tackle an unwieldy thicket of vines, picked up a pair of secateurs and faced me on the other side.

From New York Times • Sep. 20, 2016

The morning of the abduction, Mrs. Allsop—dishevelled in a limp linen shirtdress—was wielding her secateurs up a ladder, pruning the climbing roses.

From The New Yorker • Jul. 2, 2012

She led them to a plant—stunted by the secateurs, yet vigorous—which showed, with three or four buds as yet closed and green, one solitary bloom, pure white and of incomparable shape.

From Hocken and Hunken by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir