sax
noun
sax
1 American
[saks]
/ sæks /
noun
Informal.
sax
2
American
[saks]
/ sæks /
noun
Sax.
3
American
abbreviation
-
Saxon.
-
Saxony.
sax
1
British
/ sæks /
noun
sax
2
British
/ sæks /
noun
Etymology
Origin of sax1
By shortening
Origin of sax2
before 900; Middle English sexe, Old English seax, sæx; cognate with Old Norse sax ( Swedish, Danish sax scissors). See saw 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.
See Examples For:
"Freedom Suite," led by Rollins' confident sax and also notable for Max Roach's drumming, proved controversial enough that a reissue chose another title for the album.
From Barron's ● May 26, 2026
Dr. Todd Forman is a practicing physician who went to Harvard, taught at USC, and played sax with Sublime.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
Yvonne Lanauze’s vocal is modest, but the track blossoms in the instrumental solos—Hodges’s alto sax singing with quiet poise, and Tyree Glenn’s trombone talking with emotion and eloquence, raising the whole performance to another level.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
As Les Paul said, if you’re a pianist, you’re stuck behind the piano, and if you play the sax, you can’t play and sing at the same time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
I reached inside my sax case and took out the envelope with Momma’s picture in it.
From "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis
I am inclined to bring in here the Granta, and to suggest that it may have been a Sax. or Angle name of the Cam, or of a certain part of the Cam.
From The River-Names of Europe by Ferguson, Robert
Battel, from Sax. or , to count, or reckon, having the prefix be.
From Notes and Queries, Number 232, April 8, 1854 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc by Various
From these examples, added to those which occur in every Glossary, it is evident the Sax. prep.
From The Lay of Havelok the Dane by Unknown
The verb only exists in the Sax. in the pt. t. þærnode, Chron.
From The Lay of Havelok the Dane by Unknown
Though the root-meaning seems rather that of clamminess or adhesiveness, as found in Sansc. limpas, Gr. λιπος, Lat. limus, Old Sax. lêmo, Mod.
From The River-Names of Europe by Ferguson, Robert
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.
