pincers

[ pin-serz ]

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

pincers

/ ˈpɪnsəz /

plural noun

1. Also calledpair 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

/ pĭn′sərz /

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of pincers¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of pincers¹

C14: from Old French pinceour, from Old French pincier to pinch

Example Sentences

Setting it up wasn’t simple: three wristwatches, a flat helmet with a visor, Altman retrobands, six ballistic acutransmitters, a three-pronged IV, a rechargeable cubic port and a magnetic flickflame backup for emergency power, gel pincers, two mini antennas, binaural headphones and introductory audiosegments, a voice mirror, and a vintage controller with an LCD screen.

From Slate

I got up, put on the wristwatches, the binaurals, and the gel pincers, and stepped onto the treadmill without the visor.

From Slate

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner group’s founder, said, “The pincers are closing.”

From Seattle Times

Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the Wagner group’s founder, said: “The pincers are closing.”

From New York Times

“The pincers are closing,” said Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group that spearheaded Russia’s bloody drive.

From New York Times