Green’s Dictionary of Slang

pincher n.3

[quarrying jargon pincher, one who uses a crowbar or pincher (a tool for grasping large objects)]

(Aus.) a navvy.

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[Aus](con. 1850s) Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 161: Pinchers or Thick-legs – who made the first Australian railway in the early Fifties.