ˈsizə(r)z noun plural but sometimes singular in construction
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English sisoures, sisours, from Middle French cisoires, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin caesorium cutting instrument (plural caesoria ) — more at chisel
1. : a cutting instrument consisting of two bevel-edged cutting blades that are connected to handles and that are movable past one another on a pivot by which they are held together : a small shears
the scissors are sharp
took a scissors , cut the bedspread, a table scarf, and a plant — Croswell Bowen
a pair of scissors
2. : something felt to resemble a pair of scissors (as in movement, form, or cutting ability): as
a. : something that cuts short or makes excisions
use the scissors vigorously on your report
b. : a gripping contrivance (as a tongs)
c. usually singular in construction
(1) : any of several gymnastic feats (as on the horse and parallel bars) in which the legs are moved in an antero-posterior plane in a manner suggesting the opening and closing of a pair of scissors
(2) : a wrestling hold in which a contestant locks his legs around the head or body of the opponent
(3) : a technique of high jumping in which the jumper lifts the leg nearest the bar first so that the body passes over the bar with the buttocks to the bar and the jumper lands first on the leading leg — compare western roll