The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word SCISSORS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
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More clues leading to the result SCISSORS
- Is cross dismembered with spades or shears?
- Implement move on horse
- Means of severing wrestler’s hold
- When they meet, something usually gets nicked
- Taking steamship round Channel Islands explorer returned in cutter
- Hold hairdresser’s equipment
- Equipment for dealing with locks or lock
- Item for cutting? Leader of staff is cross after review
- On the one hand, they’re instrumental in cutting
- Cutters hold in ring
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Means of severing/wrestler’s hold" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case means of severing/wrestler’s hold = scissors.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does SCISSORS mean?
SCISSORS noun- One blade on a pair of scissors.
- Scissors.
- (noun adjunct) Used in certain noun phrases to denote a thing resembling the action of scissors, as scissor kick, scissor hold (wrestling), scissor jack.
- To cut using, or as if using, scissors.
- To excise or expunge something from a text.
- To reproduce (text) as an excerpt, copy.
- To move something like a pair of scissors, especially the legs.
- (sex) To engage in scissoring (tribadism), a sexual act in which two women intertwine their legs and rub their vulvas against each other.
- To skate with one foot significantly in front of the other.
- (usually construed as plural) A tool used for cutting thin material, consisting of two crossing blades attached at a pivot point in such a way that the blades slide across each other when the handles are closed.
- An attacking move conducted by two players; the player without the ball runs from one side of the ball carrier, behind the ball carrier, and receives a pass from the ball carrier on the other side.
- A method of skating with one foot significantly in front of the other.
- An exercise in which the legs are switched back and forth, suggesting the motion of scissors.
- A scissors hold.
- (rock paper scissors) A hand with the index and middle fingers open (a handshape resembling scissors), that beats paper and is loses to rock. It beats lizard and loses to Spock in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.