Help an old coot about scissors

Hi,
I need a little assistance. I awoke this morning at 3AM thinking about pinking shears. How did it begin. I mean why pinking? Did it have to do with the color pink or what? It has been "pricking" at me all morning.
greg

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=how...ome..69i57.13949j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

Hi Messi,
Thanks for your reply but it just confused me even more. I guess no one really knows for sure. I was hoping it was a sewing term.
greg

 

As the carnation has scalloped, or "pinked", edges to its petals, pinking shears can be thought to produce an edge similar to the flower. The word "pink" can be used as a verb dating back to 1300 meaning "pierce, stab, make holes in".

 

my wife recently bought a pair for her craft projects...
I grew up knowing and working with the industrial variety..

 

Greg, that was what I was thinking too. There must have 10 different "thoughts" on it, none for certain.

 

Greg,

Here is a long entry from the Oxford English Dictionary about the word "pinking." In case you are not familiar, after each definition there is a list of quotes from sources that indicate early instances of the word being used with each definition. Sorry for any formatting glitches in the pasted text below.
This may not completely answer your question but I think it's interesting.

pinking, n.1

Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈpɪŋkɪŋ/ , U.S. /ˈpɪŋkɪŋ/
Forms: see pink v.1 and -ing suffix1.
Frequency (in current use):
Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: pink v.1, -ing suffix1.
Etymology: < pink v.1 + -ing suffix1.
1.

a. The action of pinking cloth, leather, a garment, etc.; an instance of this. Also pinking-out. Cf. pink v.1 1.

1503 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1900) II. 221 Item, for making of the said goun..xxs. Item, for pynking of the sleffis of it..vs. xd.
1558 in A. Feuillerat Documents Office of Revels Queen Elizabeth (1908) 86 Nicholas Marten for pynckinge of xxxv yardes di. of satten.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Deschiquetement,..a iagging,..a pinking, or small, and thicke cutting.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 350/1 The Pinking of a Shooe, when the grain of the Leather is raised by a sharp pointed Tool, that the inner part is seen.
1743 tr. N. Andry Orthopædia II. 78 Some advise to give squint-eyed Children small Writing to read, or employ them in fine Needle-Work, as in very fine Tapestry, Embroidery, or Pinking.
1845 Dickens Chimes ii. 63, I introduced pinking and eyelet-holeing among the men.
1883 Daily News 22 Sept. 3/3 The mode of finishing the edges..known as ‘pinking-out’, continues to be followed.
1961 Great Bend (Kansas) Daily Tribune 17 Mar. Sewing, pinking, button-holing and related tasks are completed on the production line.
2001 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 9 Nov. f11, Cutting serrated edges on the strips, pinking is a common sewing technique.



b. Any work decorated in this way; esp. an ornamental edging or trim.

1611 R. Hakluyt tr. F. de Soto Discov. & Conquest terra Florida iii. 15 The Castellans very gallant with silke upon silke, with many pinkings and cuts.
1666 S. Pepys Diary 17 Oct. (1972) VII. 328 The King says the pinking upon white makes them look too much like magpyes, and therefore hath bespoke one [vest] of plain velvet.
1677 J. Phillips tr. M. de Scudéry Almahide ii. i. 69/2 The persecuting Aladin varied his Discourse on the pinkings and lacings, and a hundred different follies.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. iv. 39 These rufflings, and pinkings, and patchings, will only make us hated by all the wives of all our neighbours.
1860 F. W. Fairholt Costume in Eng. (ed. 2) (Gloss.), Pinking, an ornamental edging cut to silk dresses by a machine that makes a semicircular jagged indent, something after the fashion of the ancient leaf-borders.
1952 C. Camden Elizabethan Woman viii. 227 Cloth hats are elaborately trimmed with embroidery, pinking, or jewelry.
1999 C. Mendelson Home Comforts l. 600/1 Seam edges should always be finished somehow, with pinking, stitching or serging, or seam binding.



†2. The action or an act of tattooing. Cf. pink v.1 3. Obs. rare.

1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. v. vii. 179/1 Their cutting, pincking and pouncing of their flesh, with garnishments..of sundry shapes and fashions.
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3. The action or an act of piercing, beating, or striking. Also fig. Cf. pink v.1 2. Now rare (chiefly Sc.).

1637 N. Whiting Le Hore di Recreatione 107 He then is frighted with the shrill recheat And feares a pinking with the yellers fangs.
1673 H. N. Payne Morning Ramble iv. 57 A way many a Young Gallant hath prevented the pinking his Doublet by—.
1687 A. Behn Emperor of Moon i. ii. 15 Who the Devil can this be? I felt a Poniard, and am glad I sav'd my Skin from pinking.
1720 J. Leigh Kensington-Gardens v. 83 Lucinda: Rascal! Villain! Bardach: No Matter for that; this is better than pinking.
1796 Eloise de Montblanc III. 84, I was coming..to see Sir Augustus after the pinking he received.
1844 Thackeray Barry Lyndon i. xvii, in Fraser's Mag. Aug. 241/1, I do believe she advanced my cause more than six months' courtship could have done, or the pinking of a half-dozen of rivals.
1899 J. H. Smith Troubadours at Home I. xxi. 346 Whoever crossed swords with him was pretty sure of an audacious pinking in the ribs.
1906 Elyria (Ohio) Chron. 18 Jan. 6/3 This fencing was with pointed swords, and already there had been a deal of pinking.
1965 Sc. National Dict. at Pink, Pinkin, a beating, thrashing.


Compounds

C1.

pinking machine n.

a1865 E. C. Gaskell Let. (1966) 816 Dear Miss Watkins, Thank you very much for the use of the Pinking Machine.
1916 E. Wharton in Scribner's Mag. Oct. 442/1 Evelina languidly put her pinking-machine on the table, and sat down to the monotonous work of pinking a heap of black silk flounces.
1998 Textile Horizons June 28/1 (advt.) Pinking machines Motorised, manual & heavy duty.



pinking punch n.

1909 N.E.D. at Punch, Pinking punch.


C2.


pinking iron n. now chiefly hist. a sharp instrument for cutting out pinked borders; (humorously) a sword.

1761 in E. Singleton Social N.Y. under Georges (1902) 242 have ever since been so scrupulous an observer of it [sc. taste] that I never was the mark of a pinking-iron behind it.
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Pinking-iron, a cutting instrument for scolloping the edges of ribbons, flounces, paper for coffin trimmings, &c.
1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 104. 335/3 Our woman's tool set consists of..one pinking iron, one darning egg, [etc.].
1984 Washington Post (Nexis) 23 Feb. 15 Kitchen equipment including a coffee grinder, pinking irons, a copper preserving kettle and pewter plates.



pinking scissors n. = pinking shears n.

1938 Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune 8 Dec. 9/1 (advt.) Electric Irons, Scissors, Pinking Scissors, Percolators, [etc.].
1979 E. Taylor in I. Webb Compl. Guide Flower & Foliage Arrangem. viii. 103/1 Pinking scissors will avoid having to hem the edges.



pinking shears n. scissors with a serrated blade, used to cut a zigzag edge, esp. to prevent fraying of fabric.

1934 Helena (Montana) Daily Independent 11 Mar. 11/4 If you have pinking shears, use them for cutting because that gives a nice finished edge to the ruffles.
1995 Mod. Woman Jan. 47/1 Sewing scissors and pinking shears. The zigzag edge prevents fraying.

 

And just in case, here is what the OED says about the verb "pink" in the sense mentioned above.

pink, v.1

Pronunciation: Brit. /pɪŋk/ , U.S. /pɪŋk/
Forms: lME–15 pynke, 15 pinke, 15 pynck, 15 pyncke, 15 pynk, 15–17 pinck, 15– ... (Show More)
Frequency (in current use):
Origin: Of uncertain origin. Etymon: ping v.1
Etymology: Origin uncertain; probably ultimately imitative, or perhaps a variant of ping v.1... (Show More)
I. Senses related to cutting or piercing.


1. trans. In early use: to ornament (cloth or leather) by cutting or punching eyelet holes, slits, etc., esp. to display a contrasting lining or undergarment; to perforate. In later use: to cut a scalloped or zigzag edge on (a piece of fabric). Also with out. Also fig.

1486 in W. Campbell Materials for Hist. Reign Henry VII (1873) I. 266 Item, a gowne of cloth of golde, with ermyns, pynked.
1576 T. Newton tr. L. Lemnie Touchstone of Complexions i. iv. f. 27v, Their bodyes pinked ful of scabs.
1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden sig. Pv, A sute made of..white canuas pinkt vpon cotton.
1600 T. Dekker Shomakers Holiday sig. B4v, Here take this paire of shooes cut out by Hodge,..seam'd by my selfe, Made vp and pinckt, with letters for thy name.
1666 S. Pepys Diary 15 Oct. (1972) VII. 324 A long Cassocke..of black cloth and pinked with white silk under it.
1719 in T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth IV. 5 His skin did look like Sattin Pinck'd, With Gashes many a score.
1768 J. Byron Narr. Patagonia 225 Their shoes are pinked and cut.
c1800 E. C. Knight Autobiogr. I. 16 His father kept a shop, and he was obliged to pink shrouds.
1893 Lady 17 Aug. 172/3 The edge may be pinked-out in the simple notches known as the ‘saw’ pattern.
1903 Daily Chron. 30 May 8/4 Such silk can be bought ready ‘pinked’ at the edges.
1980 R. D. Bent & J. L. McKinley Aircraft Maintenance & Repair (ed. 4) iv. 108/2 The edges are pinked (cut with a saw-toothed edge)..to reduce the tendency to ravel.
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2.

†a. intr. To make or punch holes; to stab. Obs. rare.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 658/1, I pynke. [No Fr.]
a1764 R. Lloyd Epist. to C. Churchill in Poet. Wks. (1774) II. 28 Each cool wit would meet his brother, To pink and tilt at one another.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. To Pink,..to stab, as, between casks, to detect men stowed away.
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b. trans. To pierce, stab, or prick with a pointed weapon or instrument.

1597 Trimming of T. Nashe sig. Gv, In wounds thy shalt exceed Cassanus which was so pittifully pinked of his own Schollers.
1601 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor iii. iv. sig. H2v, By my hand I will pinck thy flesh full of holes with my rapier for this.
a1669 H. Foulis Hist. Romish Treasons (1671) vi. ii. 356 Cutting and pinking his body with their swords.
1716 J. Addison Drummer iv. 42 One of them pink'd t'other in a Duel.
1787 W. Beckford Portuguese Jrnl. 11Oct. (1954) 222 The astrologer appears very busy..pinking their eyes with a gigantic pair of black compasses.
1823 Scott Peveril IV. vii. 158, I would I had pinked one of the knaves at least.
1898 Argosy July 593 One of them pinked me in the shoulder before I rode into the woods.
1938 Life 6 June 25/2 (caption) Bernstein attacks with spirit... He seems to let down his guard and Bourdet rushes in, lunging unwarily. Bernstein pinks him neatly in the arm.
1997 Nature 2 Jan. 14/1 James Joseph Sylvester,..notable for his work on invariants and for pinking a few anti-semitic undergraduates with his sword cane.
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c. trans. To pierce, nick, or hit with a bullet; (in later use also) to shoot with a light gun. Also intr.

1661 J. Ogilby Entertainm. Charles II 19 With Bullets pink Their Quarters untill they sink.
1667 G. Rawdon Let. 10 Aug. in Conway Lett. (1992) v. 286 He hath found 2 fatt buck dead... One of them seemed to have been pincked with a dagg.
1859 C. W. Tayleure Boy Martyrs of Sept. 12th, 1814 ii. v. 20 Dan: Whew! that's a run, Harry. Harry: Well, we pinked two of 'em.
1864 ‘English Combatant’ Battle-fields of South xxviii. 396 You don't mean to say they have ‘pinked’ you at last?
1931 R. Campbell Georgiad i. 14 ‘Onoto’—guns, As sported by Chicago's crooked sons, Able, at once, to..pink a stray policeman in the neck.
1950 N.Y. Times 30 Dec. 27/1 Wall has been the victim of three attempted assassinations, in two of which he was ‘pinked’, as he expressed it.
2003 Timaru (N.Z.) Herald (Nexis) 25 Apr. 2 A Turkish sniper ‘pinked’ him, but the bullet went right through.



†d. trans. to pink (a person's) jacket (also doublet): to stab or wound a person with a rapier or other pointed weapon. Cf. sense 2b. Obs.
With play on sense 1.

[1615 S. Rowlands Melancholie Knight 5 If he presume to aske my worship chinke, With poniard point his doublet Ile be pinke.]
1673 H. N. Payne Morning Ramble 57, I think I had best fall to Queries about the Quarrel—a way many a Young Gallant hath prevented the pinking his Doublet by.
1684 Voy. Capt. Sharp 45 But as soon as we began to pink some of their Jackets for them with our Fuzees, they got out of our reach.
1711 E. Ward Life Don Quixote I. 68 And with this Weapon pink his Jacket, Unless he instantly agrees To ask your Pardon on his Knees.
1730 C. Coffey Female Parson iii. i. 39 And if you don't draw and defend your self Mr. Powderpate, I shall pink your Doublet for you.
1735 Swift Full & True Acct. Execution W. Wood in Wks. IV. 245, 3d. Taylor. I'll pink his Doublet.
1859 W. G. Simms Cassique of Kiawah xlv. 465 I'll pink his jacket for him if he gives me a chance!


e. trans. To strike, hit, beat; spec. (Boxing slang) to strike with the fist so as to break the skin or leave a visible mark. Also intr. Now rare.

1810 Sporting Mag. 36 44 Hall was without science, and Ballard pinked his head.
1829 P. Egan Boxiana New Ser. II. 232 Burn pinked his opponent with dexterity, and retreated.
1880 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. (new ed.) (at cited word), I'll pink ye for that yet.
1897 G. Bartram People of Clopton 19 Knocking him about like a shuttle-cock and pinking him until he was drenched with gore.
1979 E. Newman Sunday Punch v. 36 He pinked with his left and crossed occasionally with his right.


†3. trans. To cut or puncture (the skin) by way of personal adornment; to tattoo. Obs. (arch. in later use).

1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. 182 Our Picts whose bodies sliced and pinked be an artificiall punchion, did suck in the iuice of the stayning herb.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 24 To seeme more amiable, [the women] are pinckt and cut in seuerall shapes, on face, armes, and thighes.
1665 R. Head Eng. Rogue I. xlii. 85 Both men and women hideously slash their flesh in sundry forms; their brows, noses, cheeks, arms, breasts..and legs, are pinkt, and cut in more admirable (than amiable) manner.
1741 tr. Marquis d'Argens Chinese Lett. xxx. 221 The Tunguses have the Skin of their Foreheads and Cheeks pink'd in the manner of Embroidery.
1753 T. Salmon Universal Traveller II. 358/2 The Children go naked till they are eight or nine Years old, and some of them are pinked in their Faces and Breasts for Ornament.
1855 C. Kingsley Westward Ho! (1903) vii. 125 The fellow is pinked all over in heathen patterns, and as brown as a filbert.


II. Senses relating to clothing or adornment. Cf. prink n.2


4. trans. To adorn, beautify; to deck, trick out. Also with up. In later use chiefly Sc.

1558 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Seuen First Bks. Eneidos iv. sig. I.ivv, This pranking Paris fyne with mates of beardles kynde..With grekishe wymple pynkyd womanlyke.
1577 M. Hanmer tr. Bp. Eusebius in Aunc. Eccl. Hist. v. xvi. 90 Is it seemly for a Prophete neatly to pyncke and gingerly to sett forthe himselfe?
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Lily, The Flowers..are..crooked, purpled, and pink'd with certain red Spots, they smell sweatly and please the Sight.
1755 T. Smollett tr. Cervantes Don Quixote I. iv. xxiv. 390 He returned, in the garb of a soldier, pinked up in a thousand colours, and bedecked with a power of glass toys and slender chains of steel.
1866 W. Gregor Dial. Banffshire (Philol. Soc.) 126 She pinkit hirsel' oot in a' 'ir best.
1892 Temple Bar Apr. 539 April..pink'd the earth with flowers.
1918 T. Manson Humours of Peat Comm. 43 What wid Magnie Moad say whin I cam alang da hoose penkid up as prood as a woman?
1924 T. Manson Peat Comm. 51 Dir edder getting things ta denk an penk demsells wi, or dan dir helpin idders dat wye.

 

Hi Fig,
Thanks for all of your research, it is quite impressive. Why in the hell did I wake up with such a thought to trouble me. I was hoping there was simple reason like the woman who invented it was named Grace Pink.
greg

 

Fig so glad you posted that. My OED is one of the kind that has the pages reduced in size so it will fit in two massive volumes. It takes a magnifying glass to read

 

I have access to the online version through my library... so copied and pasted from there. I have seen the books you are talking about, though!