Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A pair of scissors.
- noun A pair of anal organs which open or shut transversely and cross each other, as in the male of Raphidia. Kirby and Spence.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A pair of shears.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete A pair of
shears .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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So is it with ‘Thrax’ a Thracian, and ‘Threx’ a gladiator; with ‘codex’ and ‘caudex’; ‘forfex’ and ‘forceps’;
English Past and Present Richard Chenevix Trench 1846
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Fortunately for Belinda, "the glittering forfex" was not immediately produced, as fine ladies do not now, as in former times, carry any such useless implements about with them.
Tales and Novels — Volume 03 Maria Edgeworth 1808
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Pope's ingenious critic, Mr. Warton, bestows judicious praise upon the art with which this poet, in the Rape of the Lock, has used many "periphrases and uncommon expressions," to avoid mentioning the name of _scissars_, which would sound too vulgar for epic dignity -- fatal engine, forfex, meeting-points, &c.
Tales and Novels — Volume 04 Maria Edgeworth 1808
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Fortunately for Belinda, 'the glittering forfex' was not immediately produced, as fine ladies do not now, as in former times, carry any such useless implements about with them.
Belinda 1801
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The berries crackle and the mill turns round "-- when" the Peer ", Lord Petre," spreads the glittering forfex wide "and snips off the lock of hair!
Hampton Court Walter Jerrold 1897
reesetee commented on the word forfex
And you thought they were scissors.
February 23, 2007
sionnach commented on the word forfex
The Peer now spreads the glitt'ring Forfex wide,
T' inclose the Lock; now joins it, to divide.
Ev'n then, before the fatal engine clos'd,
A wretched Sylph too fondly interpos'd;
Fate urg'd the shears, and cut the Sylph in twain,
(But airy substance soon unites again)
The meeting points the sacred hair dissever
From the fair head, for ever, and for ever!
Then flash'd the living lightning from her eyes,
And screams of horror rend th' affrighted skies.
Not louder shrieks to pitying heav'n are cast,
When husbands, or when lapdogs breathe their last;
Or when rich China vessels fall'n from high,
In glitt'ring dust and painted fragments lie!
The Rape of the Lock, Canto III
September 26, 2009