forceps

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • n forceps an extractor consisting of a pair of pincers used in medical treatment (especially for the delivery of babies)
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • Forceps A pair of pinchers, or tongs; an instrument for grasping, holding firmly, or exerting traction upon, bodies which it would be inconvenient or impracticable to seize with the fingers, especially one for delicate operations, as those of watchmakers, surgeons, accoucheurs, dentists, etc.
    • Forceps (Zoöl) The caudal forceps-shaped appendage of earwigs and some other insects. See Earwig.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • n forceps An instrument, such as pincers or tongs, used for seizing, holding, or moving objects which it would be impracticable to manipulate with the fingers. Such instruments are used by watchmakers and jewelers in delicate manipulations; by dentists for the forcible extraction of teeth; by accoucheurs for grasping and steadying the head of the fetus in delivery, or for extracting the fetus; by surgeons for grasping and holding parts in dissection, for taking up an artery, etc.; and in blowpipe analysis (and then platinum-pointed) to hold the fragment of the mineral whose fusibility, etc., is being tested.
    • n forceps In zoology and anatomy, some part or process of the body like a forceps; any forcipate organ. Specifically— In anatomy, the fibers passing backward on each side from the splenium of the corpus callosum to the posterior and upper part of the occipital lobes.
    • n forceps See the qualifying words.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • n Forceps for′seps a pair of tongs, pincers, or pliers for holding anything difficult to be held with the hand
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
L. forceps, -cipis, from the root of formus, Hot + capere, to take; akin to E. heave,. Cf. Furnace
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
L., from formus, hot, and capĕre, to hold.

Usage

In literature:

With the forceps lay a weight from the weight box on the right-hand pan.
"Human Foods and Their Nutritive Value" by Harry Snyder
What in the name of forceps and lancets did they tie them up in this old silk rag for?
"The Ocean Cat's Paw" by George Manville Fenn
Its tail is armed with a double hook or forceps.
"The Dawn of Reason" by James Weir
And he, in turn, struggled against them and clenched his teeth on the forceps.
"A Son Of The Sun" by Jack London
The dentist peered at it, inserted his forceps and set to work.
"Oh, You Tex!" by William Macleod Raine
When I produced the forceps he protested most loudly that he would not have it touched for worlds.
"A Labrador Doctor" by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
In a few moments the thread is cold, and if the forceps be compressed, this thread will bend.
"On Laboratory Arts" by Richard Threlfall
If this was college life, he said, would somebody kindly take a pair of forceps and remove it.
"At Good Old Siwash" by George Fitch
I will take a few of the most useful and some other things, a pair of forceps for instance.
"Condemned as a Nihilist" by George Alfred Henty
Jew debts and creditors, 74, 113, 115; Benedict and the tooth-forceps, 225.
"Past and Present" by Thomas Carlyle
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In poetry:

Through viewless valves embodied so –
Till daylight, the expulsion and awakening,
The riving and the driving forth,
Life with remorseless forceps beckoning –
Pangs and betrayal of harsh birth.
"Sleep" by Kenneth Slessor

In news:

As a result of this design, the forceps were positioned around an existing bridge, allowing extraction of this tooth root without affecting the integrity of the bridge itself.
dentistrytoday.com
Doctor petitions for license rutland , medical, board, license, anaheim, wednesday, forceps, licenses, death, osinoff.
ocregister.com
The INSORB® 1 Single User Forceps is a proprietary medical device that allows a single clinician to close a surgical incision with the INSORB 20 Subcuticular Skin Stapler entirely by themselves.
surgicalproductsmag.com
Forceps-wielding masked doctors looming over strapped-down screaming women.
readthehook.com
27 Sportsman 's Tools range from pliers, forceps and wire cutters to mechanical scales, big-game holding tools and fillet knives.
sportfishingmag.com
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Related words