sawbones

[ saw-bohnz ]

See synonyms for sawbones on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural saw·bones, saw·bones·es.(used with a singular verb)Slang.

a surgeon or physician.

Origin of sawbones

First recorded in 1830–40; saw¹ + bone + -s³

Words Nearby sawbones

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use sawbones in a sentence

For many years he had carried in his body a Spanish bullet which the sawbones of his guerrilla band had been unable to extract.
The Enemies of Women | Vicente Blasco Ibez
But I kin go to Bullhide for the sawbones in it, and bring him back, too.
Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch | Alice B. Emerson
The mediocre sawbones can always take a shop, go to India, marry a sickly widow, or invent a patent medicine.
Mated from the Morgue | John Augustus O'Shea
Well, he's got an ugly hole in him, and it's hard hunting—the sawbones will have to find the lead.
The Gold Hunter's Adventures | William H. Thomes
They had grudgingly allowed Clancey, the family sawbones, to call in a psychologist friend, Philip Warwick.
The Short Life | Francis Donovan

British Dictionary definitions for sawbones

sawbones

/ (ˈsɔːˌbəʊnz) /

nounplural -bones or -boneses

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

Browse