Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A pair of scissors.
- n. A pair of anal organs which open or shut transversely and cross each other, as in the male of Raphidia. Kirby and Spence.
Wiktionary
- n. obsolete A pair of shears.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A pair of shears.
Etymologies
- Latin (Wiktionary)
Examples
“So is it with ‘Thrax’ a Thracian, and ‘Threx’ a gladiator; with ‘codex’ and ‘caudex’; ‘forfex’ and ‘forceps’;”
“Fortunately for Belinda, "the glittering forfex" was not immediately produced, as fine ladies do not now, as in former times, carry any such useless implements about with them.”
“Pope's ingenious critic, Mr. Warton, bestows judicious praise upon the art with which this poet, in the Rape of the Lock, has used many "periphrases and uncommon expressions," to avoid mentioning the name of _scissars_, which would sound too vulgar for epic dignity -- fatal engine, forfex, meeting-points, &c.”
“Fortunately for Belinda, 'the glittering forfex' was not immediately produced, as fine ladies do not now, as in former times, carry any such useless implements about with them.”
“The berries crackle and the mill turns round "-- when" the Peer ", Lord Petre," spreads the glittering forfex wide "and snips off the lock of hair!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘forfex’.
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phrontistery - f
from phrontistery.info
fustilarian, fusillation, fustian, futurology, fusiform, futurition, fusee, fuscous, fusain, furunculoid, futtock, furibund and 418 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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It Has a Name??
Yes. Yes it does.
aglet, armsaye, scroop, rowel, ferrule, rasceta, chanking, philtrum, frenulum, keeper, agelast, punt and 285 more...
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Zoological Terms
Terms used in Zoology
papilionaceous, actinost, gressorial, exuviate, nitid, trochal, demiss, loculus, crebrity, limes, pachytrichous, pachydactyl and 319 more...
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fbharjo's Words
jumelle, kef, kenspeckle, lautitious, essentic, pilpulistic, impavid, cicurant, clou, chrysostomic, miasma, teleology and 1625 more...
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ooh shiny
words I like with little or no rationalization
weir, siphon, lossy, mayhem, eruct, helix, candela, murther, fend, axial, feverfew, ventral and 61 more...
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fun ones
fun to say or fun in meaning
sizzard, clou, matutolagnia, grok, xiphoid, cwm, cattywampus, scroop, loblolly, katzenjammer, sphygmus, forfex and 68 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for forfex.

sionnach The Peer now spreads the glitt'ring Forfex wide,
T' inclose the Lock; now joins it, to divide.
Ev'n then, before the fatal engine clos'd,
A wretched Sylph too fondly interpos'd;
Fate urg'd the shears, and cut the Sylph in twain,
(But airy substance soon unites again)
The meeting points the sacred hair dissever
From the fair head, for ever, and for ever!
Then flash'd the living lightning from her eyes,
And screams of horror rend th' affrighted skies.
Not louder shrieks to pitying heav'n are cast,
When husbands, or when lapdogs breathe their last;
Or when rich China vessels fall'n from high,
In glitt'ring dust and painted fragments lie!
The Rape of the Lock, Canto III
Sep 26, 2009
reesetee And you thought they were scissors. Feb 23, 2007