locking pliers
1
4.6
- noun
- /ˈlɑkɪŋ ˈplaɪərz/
- Specialized
:
alicates de bloqueo
- When fixing the car, he used locking pliers to hold the loose wire in place while he worked.
Examples
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Those are hard; rather than cutting through them, it's easier to break them using locking pliers.
Blog text (26) -
You can easily grip stubborn nuts and bolts with locking pliers due to their unique locking mechanism.
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To secure the metal pieces temporarily, she applied pressure with locking pliers for a sturdy hold.
Synonyms
A hand tool with a joint you can move to make the jaws open wider
How Firm
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'locking' (having a locking mechanism) with 'pliers' (a gripping tool): it denotes pliers that can be locked to hold objects. This adjectival-participial + noun composition is a common, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The noun locking pliers comes from the simple image of a pair of pliers that can lock onto an object and stay closed without your hand. So the name means 'pliers that clamp and hold in place', like an extra hand when you need a firm grip.