sawbuck
1 Americannoun
noun
noun
-
a sawhorse, esp one having an X-shaped supporting structure
-
slang a ten-dollar bill
Etymology
Origin of sawbuck1
1860–65, compare Dutch zaagbok
Origin of sawbuck2
1840–50, so called from the resemblance of the Roman numeral X to the crossbars of a sawbuck 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.
You can channel the same era throughout your seating, pairing wishbone and sawbuck, or windsor and ladderback.
From Salon • Apr. 4, 2021
Now that Alexander Hamilton is safe on the sawbuck, and Andrew Jackson is banished to the back of the $20 note, could we please tackle a rather more urgent U.S. monetary issue?
From Time • May 24, 2016
Nine years ago, I was sitting in an off-track betting parlor, with a sawbuck riding on a 19-to-1 shot named Great Eight.
From Slate • May 4, 2012
Enter today�that sawbuck will look pretty sharp in your pocketbook!
From Time Magazine Archive
His own people could not buy from Onofre at those prices: they were used to paying five dollars, at the most a sawbuck, for a pickup load of pinon.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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.
