Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun chiefly UK small, handheld
pruning shears
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun small pruning shears with a spring that holds the handles open and a single blade that closes against a flat surface
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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However, earlier this year I decided that constantly replacing my secateurs was a waste and I should go for the kind where the parts can be replaced.
British Blogs 2009
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But what has finally set me to ranting and waving the secateurs are the namby-pamby replies of the experts on the other end of the line.
Garden Rant 2008
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The fussier rose varieties prefer you call the pruners "secateurs," but that is another story.
unknown title 2009
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The morning I came to the tree with a bag and a pair of secateurs there was not a single berry left.
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Other than grape juice stains under the nails and around my cuticles the nails still look pretty much the same, I do have a few band-aids though from getting too close with the secateurs!
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Several tomatoes were transplanted, though, again, I'm dubious about their chances -- the transplant formerly in the Folger's can needed some work with the secateurs thanks to the damage done, while another was basically flattened; that one's been deep planted in the hopes that it'll add additional roots to keep it upright.
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Under a pile of mothy tea-cosies I found a pair of secateurs returned from the ironmongers with a brown label attached, dated 1956 and inscribed "Not Worth Repair".
Hancox: All under one roof Charlotte Moore 2010
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My preferred option would be to take a pair of secateurs (or cigar clip) and remove a bit of a finger at the knuckle with each offence, after the very first one being the tip of a pinky.
It Can’t Be……….. But It Is! « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2008
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Plus I tell/sell myself it gave me an opportunity to sort the seed packets I lug around most of the year with the secateurs and small thermos flask.
The swap shop Allan Jenkins 2010
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I attribute their survival to a hopeful feeling that someone, some day, might know how to mend them, combined with a sense of loyalty towards the dear old secateurs, which had worked so hard.
Hancox: All under one roof Charlotte Moore 2010
chained_bear commented on the word secateurs
"... he was not embarrassed to set up his easel at the edge of camp as the evening light turned golden or to wander through the Texas scrub, basket and secateurs in hand, gathering samples of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis) and the starry yellow flowers of the Zinnia grandiflora that bloomed miraculously out of the thin, arid soil."
—David Laskin, The Children's Blizzard (New York: HarperCollins, 2004), 92
November 11, 2008