saw
noun
a tool or device for cutting, typically a thin blade of metal with a series of sharp teeth.
Showing results for "saw"
- past tense form of see.
saw
1 American
[saw]
/ sɔ /
noun
-
a tool or device for cutting, typically a thin blade of metal with a series of sharp teeth.
-
any similar tool or device, as a rotating disk, in which a sharp continuous edge replaces the teeth.
verb (used with object)
sawed,
sawed,
sawn,
sawing
-
to cut or divide with a saw.
-
to form by cutting with a saw.
-
to make cutting motions as if using a saw.
to saw the air with one's hands.
-
to work (something) from side to side like a saw.
verb (used without object)
sawed,
sawed,
sawn,
sawing
-
to use a saw.
-
to cut with or as if with a saw.
-
to cut as a saw does.
idioms
saw
2
American
[saw]
/ sɔ /
verb
saw
3
American
[saw]
/ sɔ /
noun
saw
1
British
/ sɔː /
noun
-
any of various hand tools for cutting wood, metal, etc, having a blade with teeth along one edge
-
any of various machines or devices for cutting by use of a toothed blade, such as a power-driven circular toothed wheel or toothed band of metal
verb
-
to cut with a saw
-
to form by sawing
-
to cut as if wielding a saw
to saw the air
-
to move (an object) from side to side as if moving a saw
SAW
2
British
abbreviation
saw
3
British
/ sɔː /
verb
saw
4
British
/ sɔː /
noun
saw
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of saw1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English noun sau(e), soue, zaue, Old English saga, sagu; cognate with Dutch zaag, Old Norse sǫg, German Säge, all meaning “saw”; akin to Latin secāre “to cut,” Old English seax “short sword, knife, dagger”; the verb is derivative of the noun; see also sax 2, section
Origin of saw3
First recorded before 950; Middle English sau(e), sauhe, sagh(e) “talk, words, something said,” Old English sagu “a saying, speech, narrative”; cognate with German Sage “legend, fable, myth, tradition,” Old Norse saga “statement, tale, story, history”; see also saga, say 1
Explanation
A saw is a tool that's used to cut wood. It can be a hand tool or a power tool, and it usually has either a blade or a disk with a jagged cutting edge. The verb saw means to cut through wood or another material using a saw or other tool. If you are going to build a bookcase, you have to saw the wood into the proper lengths. It's a good idea to measure it twice so you only have to saw it once. When you're faced with a tough piece of meat, you might have to saw at it just to cut off a bite.
Vocabulary lists containing saw
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.
See Examples For:
The strong rise in global trade flows is all the more remarkable given that last year saw the largest increase in U.S. tariffs for a century.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
The ceasefire saw thousands of Palestinians held by Israel released in return for the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
The Wellness Company brand promoted in many of the videos saw a subsequent spike in online searches, according to Google Trends data.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
We wore KN95 masks—a modern version of the plague doctor beaks—and hid in our houses, and saw our hospitals overflow, and couldn’t be with our loved ones when they died.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
Every time I saw her, whatever creation Sela wore in her hair featured a strawberry.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Traditional SAW devices typically max out at around 4 gigahertz, making the new system far faster.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 17, 2026
I SAW a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2022
That decision came after an internal Pfizer report that Holmes said she never SAW? had expressed doubts about the reliability of Theranos’ blood tests.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 23, 2021
I SAW a girl on a Manhattan-bound subway train one day wearing a knockoff Louis Vuitton head scarf and false eyelashes long enough to make a daddy longlegs envious.
From New York Times ● Nov. 29, 2014
YOU are the one who did something wrong, I say, because I SAW him push William H. out of his Personal Space.
From "Mockingbird" by Kathryn Erskine
Performance and illusion are recurring themes: A woman is sawed in half in a depiction of classic stagecraft; elsewhere a juggler manipulates ovoids that each contain an everyday vignette.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
Over months, he’d sawed wooden two-by-fours to use as a brace between the front door and an interior wall to make it harder to breach.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2025
He came, he sawed, he conq—well, he left.
From Slate ● Jun. 1, 2025
For the majority of Americans, one of those legs has been effectively sawed off without an available pension.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2024
He grabbed for the gutter just as the sharp newly-broken stone sawed through the rope.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
Emergency workers stood on the charred roof, still smelling of burning, sawing off damaged sections and tossing the debris into a pile.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
That’s like sawing the magician in half and never putting them back together again.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025
The high-pitched sound of an angle grinder sawing through glass echoed through the hall.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
He said: "The finances aren't good, the margins are wafer thin. It's a lot of sawing for not much sawdust, as my grandfather used to say."
From BBC ● May 27, 2025
I set to work, sawing harder than ever.
From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson
It had been in my family for three generations — an upright of quarter sawn oak that probably hadn’t been properly tuned for years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2025
He said his lifelong love affair with theatre stemmed in part from seeing his sister being sawn in half as a conjuror's assistant at a local music hall.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2024
Rift sawn white oak flooring grounds the space.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 10, 2022
The tree trunks are laid in the street in front of the homes of those who purchase them, to be sawn down in backyard workshops.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 25, 2022
The wild bushes that'd muffled the House in the Woods'd been sawn back to size.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
