scissors

pronunciation

How to pronounce scissors in British English: UK [ˈsɪzəz] word uk audio image

How to pronounce scissors in American English: US [ˈsɪzərz] word us audio image

Noun:

and edge tool having two crossed pivoting blades
a wrestling hold in which you wrap your legs around the opponents body or head and put your feet together and squeeze
a gymnastic exercise performed on the pommel horse when the gymnast moves his legs as scissors move

Word Origin

scissors: scissors: [14] Scissors are etymologically a ‘cutting’ implement. The word comes via Old French cisoires from cīsōria, the plural of late Latin cīsōrium ‘cutting implement’, which was derived from Latin caedere ‘cut’ (source of English concise, decide, incision, etc). The original form of the word in English was sisoures; the sc- spelling did not come on the scene until the 16th century, presumably through association with Latin scindere ‘cut’ (source of English rescind [17] and scission ‘cutting’ [15], and related to Greek skhízein ‘split’, from which English gets schism and schizophrenia).=> concise, decide, incision, rescind, schism, schizophrenia

scissors (n.): late 14c., sisoures, from Old French cisoires (plural) "shears," from Vulgar Latin *cisoria (plural) "cutting instrument," from *cisus (in compounds such as Latin excisus, past participle of excidere "to cut out"), ultimately from Latin caedere "to cut" (see -cide). Spelling with sc- is 16c., from influence of Medieval Latin scissor "tailor," in classical Latin "carver, cutter," from past participle stem of scindere "to split." Usually with pair of (attested from c. 1400) when indication of just one is required, but a singular form without the -s occasionally was used (cysowre, mid-15c.). In Scotland, shears answers for all sizes, according to OED; but in England generally that word is used only for those too large to be worked by one hand. Sense in wrestling is from 1904. Oh scissors! was a 19c. exclamation of impatience or disgust (1843). In reference to a type of swimming kick, from 1902 (the image itself is from 1880s).

2. Everything from can openers to garden tools to knives and scissors tends to be designed without taking them into consideration .

3. This was a woman , as the prosecution put it , who could murder a baby with nail scissors in the front seat of her car before stuffing the body into a camera case .