scissors vs shears

scissors

noun
  • 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. 

  • A method of skating with one foot significantly in front of the other. 

  • A scissors hold. 

  • An instance of the above dogfighting maneuver. 

  • 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 hand with the index and middle fingers open (a handshape resembling scissors), that beats paper and loses to rock. It beats lizard and loses to Spock in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock. 

  • An exercise in which the legs are switched back and forth, suggesting the motion of scissors. 

  • A type of defensive maneuver in dogfighting, involving repeatedly turning one's aircraft towards that of the attacker in order to force them to overshoot. 

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 scissors and shears occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )