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sawbones

American  
[saw-bohnz] / ˈsɔˌboʊnz /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

plural

sawbones, sawboneses

  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

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

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

Answers the sawbones: "Not unless your seeing-eye dog goes lame."

From Time Magazine Archive

In New Winton's collection of characters the town sawbones, Dr. Bull, stands out like a large masculine thumb.

From Time Magazine Archive

Maybe this replacement sawbones got strangled in red tape.

From The Plague by Keller, Teddy

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.