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  • saw pit
    saw pit
    noun
    a place for pit sawing.
  • saw-pit
    saw-pit
    noun
    (esp formerly) a pit above which a log is sawn into planks with a large pitsaw

saw pit

American  
Or sawpit

noun

  1. a place for pit sawing.


saw-pit British  

noun

  1. (esp formerly) a pit above which a log is sawn into planks with a large pitsaw

"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

Etymology

Origin of saw pit

First recorded in 1375–1425, saw pit is from the late Middle English word sawpytt. See saw 1, pit 1

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:

“He came back to set and he said, ‘I found evidence of a saw pit in almost the exact same location at Jamestown,” Fisk says.

From Seattle Times Feb. 23, 2024

And sometimes — like in Fisk’s selection of a saw pit location — his deductions were proven right by the simultaneous research of archeologist Bill Kelso, who directed the Jamestown Rediscovery Project.

From Seattle Times Feb. 23, 2024

He asked about a saw pit in which he had worked when a young boy.

From McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 6, May, 1896 by Various

He visited the ship, and took great interest in all that was going on, particularly with the saw pit.

From The Life of Captain James Cook by Kitson, Arthur

A saw "pit" is a scantling of poles eight feet high, on which the logs are placed to be sawn.

From The Great Gold Rush A Tale of the Klondike by Jarvis, W. H. P. (William Henry Pope)

No one could tell where the dance begun, or where it ended, nor indeed which were legs and which were arms, for they were all flying about together, like the shavings in a saw-pit!

From Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by Andersen, H. C. (Hans Christian)

The weather was excessively hot, yet the men worked hard at the saw-pit notwithstanding; but all our activity was in danger of being fruitless, for the river each day fell about four inches!

From Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1 by Mitchell, Thomas

For the same reason power-gins and saw-mills found little favor, the single-treadle "foot-gin" and the saw-pit and cross-cut employing ten times as many hands.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 097, January, 1876 by Various

Many an hour have I spent at his saw-pit, listening to recitals of his fifty-year-old adventures, some of which were most unedifying.

From Reminiscences of a South African Pioneer by Scully, W. C. (William Charles)

The cart returned with some fine timber which was soon placed on the saw-pit; meanwhile a stockyard for the cattle was erected on the higher ground.

From Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1 by Mitchell, Thomas

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