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:
A thudding kick drum and a mournful sax set up “I’ll Play the Fool” before a rubbery rumba beat and swing band take over.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
"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
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
The song is soft, with a distant, wailing sax peeking in for a brief moment among drum lines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2025
I shoved the poem in my pocket, grabbed my sax, and went to the front of the room.
From "Bronx Masquerade" by Nikki Grimes
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
The only word in the Sax. remaining to which it can be referred, is unornlic, tritus, Jos.
From The Lay of Havelok the Dane by Unknown
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
Cimb. as the ze and zi in zehol, zeol, ziol, Sax. are premised only as intensives, to add a little to the signification, and make it more emphatical.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 20, No. 582, December 22, 1832 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
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.
