 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2023) |
Anaverruncator orpole pruner (American English) is a form of long shears used inarboriculture for averruncating orpruning off the higherbranches oftrees, etc.[1][2]
The word averruncate (fromLatinaverruncare, "to ward off, remove mischief") glided into meaning to weed the ground, prunevines, etc., by a supposed derivation from the Lat.ab, "off", anderuncare, "to weed out", and it was spelt aberuncate to suit this; but theNew English Dictionary regarded such a derivation as impossible.[1]
An averruncator has a compoundblade attached to ahandle between five and eight feet long. The blades are closed with arope andpulley, and they are opened with aspring.
There are at least three varieties of this tool, depending on how force is transmitted to the blades or the blade shape: shear-action, pully-action and parrot-bill.[3][4]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Averruncator".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 59.
The dictionary definition ofaverruncator at Wiktionary