jigsaw

[jig-saw]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR jigsaw ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Also jig saw. an electric machine saw with a narrow blade mounted vertically in a frame, for cutting curves or other difficult lines or patterns.

verb (used with object), jig·sawed, jig·sawed or jig·sawn, jig·saw·ing.

to cut or form with a jigsaw.

adjective

formed by or as if by a jigsaw: jigsaw ornamentation.

Nearby words

Origin of jigsaw

First recorded in 1870–75; jig² + saw¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for jigsaw

Every scene fits together like a jigsaw puzzle piece by the end of the book, when the reader finally knows everything.
Real Thrills And High Art In A Poignant Page-Turner Of A Novel|Susan Cheever|May 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
All of which connect together like a jigsaw as the story progresses.
Sebastian Barry’s Quarrel With Irish History|J.P. O’Malley|May 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
For Cusk, it is “a jigsaw dismantled into a heap of broken-edged pieces.”
If You Read This Book, You Will Not Get Married|Melissa Holbrook Pierson|August 11, 2012|DAILY BEAST
And when things go wrong there is a great problem of putting together the jigsaw of who said what, and what was agreed.
Oligarch v. Oligarch: London's Courts Attract Litigious Tycoons|Mike Giglio|July 23, 2012|DAILY BEAST

To be fair, Prince Charles is also brazenly cashing in, selling a jigsaw puzzle of William and Kate at his official store.
Meet Kate Middleton's Parents, Carole and Michael|Harry Cole|March 24, 2011|DAILY BEAST
"He'll be glad to know I'm not showing it about, or brooding over it like a bit of a jigsaw puzzle," I thought.
The Lightning Conductor Discovers America|C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson and A. M. (Alice Muriel) Williamson
Through a cloud of pipe smoke, Drake was placing more pieces into the jigsaw of Sylvia Fanton's life.
Queen of the Flaming Diamond|Leroy Yerxa
That's what delights Jack, picking up these links, and fitting them together like bits of jigsaw puzzles.
The Lightning Conductor Discovers America|C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson and A. M. (Alice Muriel) Williamson
If convenient to a mill equipped with jigsaw and moulder they can be made up after your own patterns.
Home Taxidermy for Pleasure and Profit|Albert B. Farnham
Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, the whole picture suddenly fell into place.
Tom Swift and the Electronic Hydrolung|Victor Appleton

British Dictionary definitions for jigsaw

jigsaw

noun

a mechanical saw with a fine steel blade for cutting intricate curves in sheets of material

See jigsaw puzzle

Word Origin for jigsaw

C19: from jig (to jerk up and down rapidly) + saw 1

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

Word Origin and History for jigsaw

jigsaw

also jig-saw, "vertical reciprocating saw," 1855, American English, from jig with its notion of "rapid up-and-down motion" + saw (n.1). Jigsaw puzzle first recorded 1906; originally one with pieces cut by a jigsaw.