pair of shears vs shears

pair of shears

noun
  • shears 

shears

noun
  • A tool consisting of two blades with bevel edges, connected by a pivot, used for cutting cloth, or for removing the fleece from sheep etc. 

  • Anything resembling a pair of shears in shape or motion, such as a pair of wings. 

  • The bedpiece of a machine tool, upon which a table or slide rest is secured. 

  • An apparatus for raising heavy weights, and especially for stepping and unstepping the lower masts of ships. It consists of two or more spars or pieces of timber, fastened together near the top, steadied by a guy or guys, and furnished with the necessary tackle. Also sheers. 

How often have the words pair of shears and shears occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )