Origin and history of pliers

Upon pinching the end containing the glass bulb, between the jaws of a pair of pliers, the bulb breaks, and the sulphuric...

late 14c., jowe, joue, "the bones of the mouth," "A word of difficult etymology" [OED]. Probably from Old French joue "cheek," originally jode, from Gallo-Romance *gauta or directly from Gaulish *gabata, but there are phonetic problems; or perhaps a variant of Germanic words rela

mid-13c., paire, "a set of two, two of a kind coupled in use," from Old French paire "pair, couple," and directly from Medieval Latin paria "equals," neuter plural of Latin par (genitive paris) "a pair, counterpart, equal," noun use of par (adj.) "equal, equal-sized, well-matched

Old English fretan "devour, feed upon, consume," from Proto-Germanic compound *fra-etan "to eat up," from *fra- "completely" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward," hence "through") + *etan "to eat" (from PIE root *ed- "to eat"). Cognates include Dutch vreten, Old High German frezzan

mid-13c., "one of the twelve divisions of the ancient Hebrews," from Old French tribu or directly from Latin tribus "one of the three political/ethnic divisions of the original Roman state" (Tites, Ramnes, and Luceres, corresponding, perhaps, to the Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans

1580s (squandering, Nashe), "to spend recklessly or prodigiously, use without judgment or economy," of unknown origin; Shakespeare used it in "Merchant of Venice" (1593) with a sense of "to be scattered over a wide area." Related: Squandered; squanderer. Squander-bug, a British s

late 14c., "origin, source, beginning" (a sense now obsolete), also "rule of conduct; axiom, basic assumption; elemental aspect of a craft or discipline," from Anglo-French principle, Old French principe "origin, cause, principle," from Latin principium (plural principia) "a begi

c. 1300, restoren, "to give back," also, "to build up again, repair; renew, re-establish; free from the effects of sin; bring back to a former and better state," from Old French restorer, from Latin restaurare "repair, rebuild, renew." This is from re- "back, again" (see re-) + -

1660s, "agreement of two or more in design or plan; accord, harmony," from French concert (16c.), from Italian concerto "concert, harmony," from concertare "bring into agreement," apparently from Latin concertare "to contend with zealously, contest, dispute, debate" from assimila

1706, "stew pan," from French casserole "sauce pan" (16c.), diminutive of casse "pan" (14c.), from Provençal cassa "melting pan," from Medieval Latin cattia "pan, vessel," possibly from Greek kyathion, diminutive of kyathos "cup for the wine bowl." Originally the pan; by 1889 als