pincers

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pinsour (“tongs, pincers”), usually plural with a singular meaning,^[2] apparently borrowed from Anglo-Norman pynceour,^[3][4][5] formed from pincer (“to pinch”) and the agent suffix -eour.^[3][5][6][7] The OED notes that the Anglo-Norman noun is found only in a Latin context, a Durham account roll of 1338,^[3][2] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Klein treat the French form as assumed.^[5][7] Etymonline, Barnhart and the Middle English Dictionary derive the word instead from Old French pinceure, also pinchure (“pincers, tongs”),^[8][9][2] which the OED only compares.^[3] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from 1181–85, meaning to pinch or squeeze;^[10] it is the source of pinch, and is of uncertain origin, possibly from Vulgar Latin *punctiō (“to pierce”).^[8] Johnson derived the English word from French pincette.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A gripping tool, tongs or pincers: perhaps before 1325, in the Meditations on the Supper of our Lord, in a manuscript copied before 1400.^[3][9] The plural pinsers appears in a Durham account roll of 1371.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word also named surgical forceps, clippers for trimming a dog's claws and a kitchen tool.^[2] From 1658, in John Rowland's translation of Thomas Moffett's Theater of Insects, it was used in zoology for the claws or jaws with which crabs and other arthropods grasp.^[3][9] Johnson (1755) defined it as an instrument for drawing nails and as the claw of an animal, quoting Spenser on "pincers fiery hot".^[11] The verb pincer, to grip or torture with pincers, is recorded from 1620.^[3] The military sense, a movement that closes on an enemy from two sides, appears in 1917 in The Times;^[3] Barnhart's first record of pincer movement is in Auden and Isherwood's Journey to War (1939),^[9] and Etymonline dates it by 1929.^[8] The OED compares German Zange (“pincers”), used of Hindenburg's tactics against the Russian army.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1325 – a gripping tool, tongs or pincers.^[3][9]
• 1371 – the plural pinsers, in a Durham account roll.^[2][9]
• 1620 – verb, to grip or torture with pincers.^[3]
• 1658 – in zoology, the claws of a crab or other arthropod.^[3][9]
• 1917 – in military use, a pincer movement.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gripping tool of two pivoted arms with handles at one end and curved jaws at the other, used especially to pull out nails: He took a pair of pincers to the bent tack.^[12][5][3]
2. The claws or grasping parts of a lobster, crab or other arthropod; a single one is a pincer.^[12][3]
3. In military use, a movement in which two forces close on an enemy from both sides, usually pincer movement.^[3][13]

Verb

1. pincer: to grip, squeeze or torture with or as if with pincers.^[5][3][13]

Related words

• pinch
• pinchers

Usage notes

The word is plural in form but sometimes takes a singular verb; it is often used in the phrase a pair of pincers.^[5][12][13] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives a pronunciation like pinchers and calls the one with /-ns-/ chiefly British.^[5] Klein compares pinchers, formed in a similar way from the verb pinch.^[7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press