plier
Pluralpliers
- 1Attributive form of pliers.
The plier jaws left small marks on the soft copper pipe.
She mounted a plier rack on the garage wall.
Note
Here the tool's name drops its plural ending to stand in front of another noun, as in a 3-piece plier kit or plier jaws. On its own, the tool is plural-only, so you reach for pliers, not a plier. Used alone, the singular plier means a person, someone who plies, rather than the tool.
- 2A person who plies a trade, or who works steadily and skillfully at a task or craft.
A skilled plier of the needle, she finished each garment entirely by hand.
The pliers of the river trade knew its currents intimately.
Similarpractitioner, worker
Note
An agent noun built plainly from ply and -er: someone who keeps steadily at a trade, a tool or a route. Its plural is spelled pliers, exactly like the gripping tool, so context has to do the sorting. The pliers of the river trade are people who work the river, not hand tools left on its banks.
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Origin
Formed from the verb "ply" combined with the suffix "-er".