noun

pincers

PIN-serz/pˈɪnsɝz/

A tool with opposing jaws for gripping or pulling.

She uses pincers to pull a nail from the board.

A close-up of steel carpenter’s pincers, with two curved opposing jaws gripping the shaft of a partly raised nail in a small wooden block.

Etymology

Old French pinceure named a two-jawed grasping tool and came from pincier, “to pinch.” The tool’s closing, gripping action also explains the name’s extension to insect and crustacean claws.

In context

Animal Planet7:17

it must be nearly 50 years old this one is a male 2 big differences the lack of eggs under the abdomen but also the size of those claws those pincers absolutely formidable

Catching Giant Crayfish In Tasmanian Rivers | Jeremy Wade's Dark Waters

More examples

These pincers grip the nail firmly without slipping.
He squeezes the handles of the pincers to close their jaws.
A pair of pincers lies beside the toolbox.

Forms

pincers

Similar words

pliers: Pliers commonly grip, bend, or cut wire and small objects.
tongs: Tongs usually hold and lift objects rather than pull nails.