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Showing results for sawbones. Search instead for Nasal+bones.
Synonyms

sawbones

American  
[saw-bohnz] / ˈsɔˌboʊnz /

noun

(used with a singular verb)
sawboneses plural
  1. a surgeon or physician.


sawbones British  
/ ˈsɔːˌbəʊnz /

noun

  1. slang a surgeon or doctor

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of sawbones

First recorded in 1830–40; saw 1 + bone + -s 3 ( def. )

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Put the sawbones like me out of business.”

From The New Yorker • Aug. 20, 2012

Robert Morley and Alastair Sim bear small resemblance to the characters Shaw had in mind, but in company with John Robinson and Felix Aylmer they make a ludicrously Aristophanic chorus of sawbones.

From Time Magazine Archive

Small wonder that they have been dubbed "sawbones," or that they have always hated the unpleasant word.

From Time Magazine Archive

What pricked him on from apprenticeship under a toping village sawbones to postgraduate work at the State of Winnemac's great Sears-Roebuckian university was an itching to learn, to know, to do.

From Time Magazine Archive

That any whipper-snapper of a sawbones should tell me to go to my room.

From The Green Rust by Wallace, Edgar

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