saw
1a 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.
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.
to use a saw.
to cut with or as if with a saw.
to cut as a saw does.
Idioms about saw
saw wood, Informal. to snore loudly while sleeping.
Origin of saw
1Other words from saw
- sawer, noun
- sawlike, adjective
Other definitions for saw (2 of 3)
simple past tense of see1.
Other definitions for saw (3 of 3)
Origin of saw
3Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use saw in a sentence
For his exemplar he chose water wheels, widely used to harness the power of flowing streams for such tasks as sawing wood or milling grain.
Do You Know These Scientific Pioneers? - Issue 93: Forerunners | Tom Siegfried | November 25, 2020 | NautilusFallen trees, instead of being sawed away, decomposed where they had fallen.
They were led by a hardened ex-Green Beret named William 25X Bradley, who rushed the stage and shot Malcolm in the chest with a sawed-off shotgun in front of his wife, Betty, and four young daughters.
A kukri snake saws into its prey using its teeth like a steak knife, he says, “slowing cutting back and forth until it can put its head in” and eat the organs.
This snake rips a hole in living toads’ stomachs to feast on their organs | Erin Garcia de Jesus | October 2, 2020 | Science NewsMasks that already fit well saw no or little change in performance, while looser-fitting masks did—most by 10 to 15 percent, and some as high as 40 percent.
What You Need to Know About Wearing a Face Mask Outside | Joe Lindsey | September 30, 2020 | Outside Online
Right now, the biggest races are still toss-ups, with polls showing see-sawing leads across-the-board.
The see-sawing ambivalence neatly reflects how badly and misguidedly politicians and political parties approach women.
The developer had erected a big sign amid the sawing and hammering.
Six Months After Sandy, the Rockaway Story Continues | Michael Daly | April 29, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTDraw one of these pictures:—The women chopping prongs from the beam of the antler.Flaker sawing the prongs off the antler.
The Later Cave-Men | Katharine Elizabeth DoppI was sawing up a few more sticks from the orchard, when the express man drove up with the beds, the crockery, and so on.
The Idyl of Twin Fires | Walter Prichard EatonI staid a great while talking with a man in the garden that was sawing of a piece of marble, and did give him 6d.
Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete | Samuel PepysRobinson asked him very timidly if he could spare a couple of square feet off a board he was sawing.
It Is Never Too Late to Mend | Charles ReadeThe horizontal strips A should be all fastened together when sawing the notches to fit over the uprights.
The Boy Mechanic, Book 2 | Various
British Dictionary definitions for saw (1 of 4)
/ (sɔː) /
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
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
Origin of saw
1Derived forms of saw
- sawer, noun
- sawlike, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for saw (2 of 4)
/ (sɔː) /
the past tense of see 1
British Dictionary definitions for saw (3 of 4)
/ (sɔː) /
a wise saying, maxim, or proverb
Origin of saw
3British Dictionary definitions for SAW (4 of 4)
surface acoustic wave
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with saw
see old saw.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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