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.
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.
to use a saw.
to cut with or as if with a saw.
to cut as a saw does.
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
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
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
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
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.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Simpson started only 15 games for Alabama, but the Rams apparently saw enough to determine he was worthy of using their highest pick since selecting quarterback Jared Goff No. 1 overall in 2016.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
SK Hynix saw its market value top $1tn in its home country in May, lifted by the boom in demand for AI chips.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
They saw the number of children increase 7% over the past decade—while their overall population grew 12%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
I wasn’t thinking about that when I first saw “Thelma & Louise” because my 40s were far away enough to not even consider that detail.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
“Well, actually… It was odd. The Flash wasn’t red or gray. I was so freaked out by what I saw when the boy hit the ground, I forgot that part.”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Most existing SAW systems require two separate chips and an external power source.
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
THE 1990s SAW more growth and turmoil, including a passionate internecine conflict that nearly ripped the station in half and wound up in federal court.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 29, 2022
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 sawed back and forth, but before he could make any progress, the bones shifted and he slid down into deeper darkness.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
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
The high-pitched sound of an angle grinder sawing through glass echoed through the hall.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
I saw one guy in a pickup had stopped and was sawing off the head of a dead stag — presumably for the antlers, but maybe he was just hungry.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2024
Within hours of the latest missile strike this weekend, dozens of workmen were clearing up the mess around the apartment block and sawing wood to seal windows.
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2024
One day Grayson dragged a pair of tree limbs in and started sawing away.
From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
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
A giant gorilla statue which was stolen from a Lanarkshire garden centre a year ago was "sawn in half" before being discarded under a hedge, according to its owner.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 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
It smelled sweetly of varnish and freshly sawn cedar.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
