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.
Also, pinchers.
Origin
1300-50;Middle Englishpinsers, earlier pynceours, plural of *pinceour < Anglo-Frenchpince(r) to pinch + -our-or2
Examples from the web for pincers
Or how about sending down some mechanical pincers to crush that pipe closed.
Some robots have three claws that can act as pincers to pick things up.
pincers poised and eyes gleaming, a bulldog ant surveys its surroundings.
The pincers close in stages as you squeeze the handles, providing gentle pressure.
Well, then, bring on the thumbscrews and the pincers and the electrodes and the rack.
Armored bugs wielding ferocious pincers crawl out of the prettiest flowers.
pincers taped shut and useless, the one-pound lobster struggling to escape to nowhere.
The body is stout, and the pincers are broad and powerful.
It has a blue-green head and pincers and a dark, rust-brown carapace.
The pincers have numerous blackish specks on their basal parts.
British Dictionary definitions for pincers
pincers
/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
Word Origin
C14: from Old French pinceour, from Old French pincier to pinch
Word Origin and History for pincers
n.
early 14c., "tool for grasping or nipping," from Old French pinceure "pincers, tongs," from pincier "to pinch" (see pinch). Applied to animal parts from 1650s. Related: Pincer.
pincers in Science
pincers
(pĭn'sərz) A jointed grasping claw of certain animals, such as lobsters and scorpions.