Word Study
pliers
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun pliers has 1 sense
- pliers(n = noun.artifact) pair of pliers, plyers - a gripping hand tool with two hinged arms and (usually) serrated jaws; Array is a kind of compound lever, hand tool
has parts: jaw
has particulars: locking pliers, needlenose pliers, pump-type pliers, rib joint pliers, slip-joint pliers
CIDE DICTIONARY
pliers, n. pl. [From Ply to bend, fold.].
A kind of small pinchers with long jaws, -- used for bending or cutting metal rods or wire, for handling small objects such as the parts of a watch, etc. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
pliers, n.pl. pincers with parallel flat usu. serrated surfaces for holding small objects, bending wire, etc.
Etymology
(dial.) ply bend (as PLIABLE)
ROGET THESAURUS
pliers
Retention
N retention, retaining, keep, detention, custody, tenacity, firm hold, grasp, gripe, grip, iron grip, fangs, teeth, claws, talons, nail, unguis, hook, tentacle, tenaculum, bond, clutches, tongs, forceps, pincers, nippers, pliers, vice, paw, hand, finger, wrist, fist, neaf, neif, bird in hand, captive, retaining, retentive, tenacious, unforfeited, undeprived, undisposed, uncommunicated, incommunicable, inalienable, in mortmain, in strict settlement, uti possidetis.Extraction
N extraction, extracting, removal, elimination, extrication, eradication, evolution, evulsion, avulsion, wrench, expression, squeezing, extirpation, extermination, ejection, export, extractor, corkscrew, forceps, pliers, extracted.
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