scissor mann.
/ˈsɪzə man/, U.S. /ˈsɪzər ˌmæn/α. 1500s 1800s– scissor man.
β. 1800s scissors man.
1. A tailor.Chiefly with reference to a character in Heinrich Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter (see Struwwelpeter n.), who cuts off children's thumbs with a pair of giant scissors as a punishment for thumbsucking (see quot. 1848).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > healer > surgeon > [noun]
chirurgeon1297
surgeonc1330
surgera1400
surgeonrer1483
surgeoner1526
chirurge1535
scarifier1566
scissor man1593
operator1598
man-mendera1625
men-mendera1625
flesh-tailor1633
nim-gimmer1699
sawbones1837
lint-scraper1860
knife-man1961
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > [noun] > tailor
seamsterc995
tailor1297
parnterc1400
parmenterc1450
pricklouse?a1513
Tom Tailor1575
stitcher1589
scissor man1593
cutter1599
snip1600
snipper1611
shred1616
needleman1621
fashioner1631
snip-snappera1632
sartor1656
nipshred1661
stult1675
cabbage1694
linen-armourer1699
stitch1699
snip-cabbage1708
tire-man1709
knight of the needlea1777
stay-tape1785
schneider1796
needle-jerker1801
skip-louse1807
darzi1809
cross-legs1823
tog-maker1901
knight of the shears-
1593 in Archaeologia Aeliana (modernized text) (1916) 13 21 A tenement in the Broad Chare, now in the occupation of Thomas Colson, scissorman.
1848 tr. H. Hoffmann Eng. Struwwelpeter 16 The door flew open, in he ran, The great, long, red-legged scissor-man [Ger. der Schneider]. Oh! children, see! the tailor's come.
1898 H. Ashby Health in Nursery ii. 21 I have my doubts as to whether the ways of the ‘scissor man’, or the history of the youths who emerged ‘black as ink’ from their forced immersion, are altogether the best sort of stories for a timid child.
1918 Printers' Ink 27 June 87/2 If you met Lord Reggie Impecunious in a London club, and admired the cut of his clothes, he was more than likely to give you the name of his tailor and afterward drop 'round and collect from the honest scissorman his little fee.
a1953 D. Thomas Quite Early One Morning (1954) 22 Struwelpeter—oh! the baby-burning flames and the clacking scissorman!
2008 B. J. C. Purves Stop Motion iv. 57 The scissor man advanced, and snip snip! Tom's thumbs fell to the floor.
2. gen. A person, esp. a man, who uses scissors. Hence allusively: a compiler; a censor. Cf. scissorer n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > a compilation > [noun] > compiling (a work) > one who
compilerc1330
gatherera1387
compilatorc1400
aggregator1528
collector1582
scissor man1826
scissorer1846
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > workers with specific tools or equipment > [noun] > with tools > with scissors
scissor man1958
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > keeping from knowledge > keeping from publication > [noun] > one who controls or suppresses
censor1644
suppresser1895
smotherer1897
scissor man1968
1826 Ass 13 May 105 Shall they all Go to the deuce, before that lump of beef..that erewhile scissor man To Pedant Pinkerton?
1828 R. Mudie Babylon the Great (ed. 2) II. ix. 235 The scissor-man who mangles the works of others for the fag-end of the bibliopoles.
1863 A. V. Kirwan Mod. France 214 The scissors-men, and compilers of what is called the ‘faits de Paris’.
1958 M. Allingham Tether's End v. 49 ‘A very fine scissor man Perce is, aren't you Perce?’ The second barber, who was at work on a fat man.., took no notice at all of the remark.
1968 Listener 5 Sept. 292/1 Arts censorship in Britain lives on mainly through the sheer personality of its few remaining scissormen.
2009 Care & Conservation MSS 11 240 In the conservation studio we come face to face with the legacy of the scissor men, the ‘vandals’, the bibliomaniacs of earlier centuries.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1593