saw
noun
a tool or device for cutting, typically a thin blade of metal with a series of sharp teeth.
saw
1 American
[saw]
/ sɔ /
noun
-
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.
verb (used with object)
sawed,
sawed,
sawn,
sawing
-
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.
verb (used without object)
sawed,
sawed,
sawn,
sawing
-
to use a saw.
-
to cut with or as if with a saw.
-
to cut as a saw does.
idioms
saw
2
American
[saw]
/ sɔ /
verb
saw
3
American
[saw]
/ sɔ /
noun
saw
1
British
/ sɔː /
noun
-
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
verb
-
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
SAW
2
British
abbreviation
saw
3
British
/ sɔː /
verb
saw
4
British
/ sɔː /
noun
saw
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of saw1
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
Origin of saw3
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
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing saw
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.
See Examples For:
She continued: "We are also still keen to hear from anyone who may have been in Piccadilly Gardens on Sunday 13 September around 8.20pm, or saw her in McDonald's at that time."
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
“I just saw him on Facebook giving away free oak trees, and here we are,” Khalil said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
He told me how he saw the city lights going out borough by borough at the time it happened, just before 10 p.m.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Over the last five years, condos in Louisiana saw the biggest drop in median list prices.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
My blood scrambles, roars through my ears, the truth buzzes around my head, like a saw with no shutoff.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Traditional SAW devices typically max out at around 4 gigahertz, making the new system far faster.
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
In a Zoom call Thursday with a small group of reporters Thursday, Hoffman applauded the SAW group for its activism.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 3, 2020
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
I SAW her across the room when I awoke, reading a newspaper, her glasses low across the bridge of her nose as she stared at the page intently.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
In director Guillermo del Toro’s take on the classic fable Frankenstein, Elordi glows an undead white as the monster, his body a patchwork of human parts sawed off of Crimean War corpses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2025
He came, he sawed, he conq—well, he left.
From Slate ● Jun. 1, 2025
Many of the downed trees were discovered Saturday morning, when images of the sawed trunks and their massive, felled branches lit up online message boards and went viral on social media.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2025
Goldie's mate, Regina, had her own adventure when she was snatched the following February by student pranksters at Manchester University who sawed through a padlock to access the cage.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2025
Beneath maples turned scarlet, scarlet soldiers sawed, as fire turns upon itself, devouring.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Getting them entry into chopping and sawing block events as well took time, LaSalle explains.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
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
Likewise, publishers who opt to create push-button novels will be sawing off the proximal tree limb with Wile E. Coyote abandon.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2024
Behind her on set is a humongous screen where I see myself: sawing, hammering, and blowing bangs out of my eyes as I concentrate.
From "The House That Lou Built" by Mae Respicio
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
Hampered by his left knee for so long, he had just got back to chest-pumping all-rounder status in the home summer when he was sawn off by his hamstring.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2024
The Customs Department said in a statement it discovered the contraband hidden behind sawn timber following checks on July 10 on a ship coming from Africa.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 18, 2022
Rift sawn white oak flooring grounds the space.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 10, 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.
