pin·cer (p?n?s?r) also pinch·er (p?n?s?r)n.1. a. often pincers or pinchers A grasping tool having two parts hinged together to work in opposition.b. One of the opposing parts in such a tool.2. a. A claw resembling such a tool, as of a lobster or scorpion; a chela.b. pincers or pinchers A pair of mandibles or other appendages used by certain arthropods for grasping, as the cerci of an earwig.3. A military maneuver in which an enemy force is attacked from two flanks and the front.[Middle English pinsours, pincers, from Anglo-Norman pynceour, from pincer, to pinch; see pinch.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.