sawdust

[saw-duhst]

noun

small particles of wood produced in sawing.

Origin of sawdust

First recorded in 1520–30; saw¹ + dust

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sawdust

Contemporary Examples of sawdust

Before the FDA started cracking down, grocers might stretch your coffee with other kinds of beans, your flour with sawdust.
The Great Sushi Scam
Megan McArdle
April 4, 2013
Today Maddow concedes that occasionally she must come down off her trapeze and strut in the sawdust with the rest of the circus.
Rachel's Accidental War
Lloyd Grove
August 24, 2010

Historical Examples of sawdust

Somebody been demonstrating that your doll's stuffed with sawdust, Tracey?
The Fortune Hunter
Louis Joseph Vance
These plants are found on pine and fir trunks and on sawdust heaps.
The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise
M. E. Hard
She's just full of sawdust, same as all dolls are, and she couldn't have any nerves.
Mary-'Gusta
Joseph C. Lincoln
Wouldn't it be more kind of you to leave me to discover the sawdust for myself?
Nobody
Louis Joseph Vance
Explain why ice is packed in straw or sawdust; why a sweater keeps you warm.
Common Science
Carleton W. Washburne

British Dictionary definitions for sawdust

sawdust

noun

particles of wood formed by sawing

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

Word Origin and History for sawdust

1520s, from saw (n.1) + dust (n.).