whipsaw

[ hwip-saw, wip- ]

/ ˈʰwɪpˌsɔ, ˈwɪp- /

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noun

a saw for two persons, as a pitsaw, used to divide timbers lengthwise.

verb (used with object), whip·sawed, whip·sawed or whip·sawn, whip·saw·ing.

to cut with a whipsaw.

to win two bets from (a person) at one turn or play, as at faro.

to subject to two opposing forces at the same time: The real-estate market has been whipsawed by high interest rates and unemployment.

verb (used without object), whip·sawed, whip·sawed or whip·sawn, whip·saw·ing.

(of a trailer, railroad car, etc.) to swing suddenly to the right or left, as in rounding a sharp curve at high speed.

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Origin of whipsaw

First recorded in 1530–40; whip + saw¹

Words nearby whipsaw

whippy, whipray, whip roll, whip-round, whips, whipsaw, whipsawed, whipscorpion, whipsnake, whipstall, whipstitch

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use whipsaw in a sentence

It also had a vast array of captive food-processing enterprises that easily enabled the New York-based company to undercut its small-town competition and whipsaw grocery wholesalers.
Can a grand bargain empower Amazon’s workers and limit corporate power?|Nelson Lichtenstein|March 25, 2021|Washington Post
The whipsaw can and does go up with almost as much speed as it goes down—recall the snap back from the lows of March of 2009.
Wall Street Is Irrelevant|Zachary Karabell|August 5, 2011|DAILY BEAST
To get there, towing charges and tolls would eat up your profits, and old Hughson would whipsaw you, anyway.
The Boss of Wind River|David Goodger (goodger@python.org)
Then the Indian brings over a whipsaw from the cabin at Surprise Lake and makes lumber enough for the box.
Lost Face|Jack London

Try as she would, she could not get them out, and then she remembered that Hastings kept a whipsaw in a shed close by.
Masters of the Wheat-Lands|Harold Bindloss
We sawed our boards with the whipsaw, and made our shingles out of the ash-trees.
Mary and I|Stephen Return Riggs
Here, by hand, with an inadequate whipsaw, they sawed the spruce-trunks into lumber.
The Red One|Jack London

British Dictionary definitions for whipsaw

whipsaw

/ (ˈwɪpˌsɔː) /

noun

any saw with a flexible blade, such as a bandsaw

verb -saws, -sawing, -sawed, -sawed or -sawn (tr)

to saw with a whipsaw

US to defeat in two ways at once

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