saw

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Synonyms of saw next

past tense of see

saw

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noun (1)

ˈsȯ

: a hand or power tool or a machine used to cut hard material (such as wood, metal, or bone) and equipped usually with a toothed blade or disk

sawlike

ˈsȯ-ˌlīk

adjective

saw

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verb

sawed ˈsȯd

; sawed or sawn ˈsȯn

; sawing ˈsȯ(-)iŋ

transitive verb

: to cut with a saw

: to produce or form by cutting with a saw

: to slash as though with a saw

intransitive verb

: to use a saw

: to cut with or as if with a saw

: to undergo cutting with a saw

: to make motions as though using a saw

sawed at the reins

sawer

ˈsȯ(-ə)r

noun

saw

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Example Sentences

Verb He sawed the boards in half. This blade is too dull for sawing.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The men cut a hole in part of a window grating with a saw before the theft, then set a fire in order to cut the power supply to streetlights outside the museum, prosecutors claimed. —

Peter Aitken, Fox News, 16 May 2023 Offerings range from palm-grip sanders, bow saws, and ladders from the Tool Library at Brookline’s Coolidge Corner branch to a Nintendo Switch set and a metal detector at Ipswich Public Library’s Library of Things. —

Gracie Warda, BostonGlobe.com, 16 May 2023 First, cut trees down with a power saw, preventing seed production. —

Andrea Beck, Better Homes & Gardens, 10 May 2023 His catcher had to reach across his body to get it, which often triggers a human umpire to call a ball; all the robo-ump saw was the ball nipping a part of the plate. —

Jimmy Golen, Chicago Tribune, 9 May 2023 Use this layout as a visual reference for setting up the saw. —

Paul Steiner, Popular Mechanics, 24 Mar. 2023 Ayman Soufan, 44, said the settlers used an electric circular saw to break through the locks on the family’s garage, then set fire to both of their cars. —

Loveday Morris, Washington Post, 17 Mar. 2023 Others suggested cutting it to pieces with a special saw. —

Andrew Higgins, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2023 Shop savings on tool kits, drills, saws and more from brands like Bosch, DeWalt and Craftsman, giving you more money to put toward your projects. —

Samantha Jones, Good Housekeeping, 11 May 2023

Verb

Antonio didn’t like it and wished his doctor would saw the cast off. —

Lizzie Johnson, Washington Post, 3 May 2023 The team sawed out a 25-centimeter-thick portion of the guano and refilled the ring with rocks to avoid disturbing the nest’s current occupants. —

Byjack Tamisiea, science.org, 2 May 2023 The 15-amp motor (3,600 RPM) is strong enough to saw through dado or other thick materials, and it’s got a T-square, three-point locking rip fence for even easier cutting. —

Barbara Bellesi Zito, Better Homes & Gardens, 21 Apr. 2023 Princip’s likeness had to be sawed into pieces and smuggled out of Europe, losing its nose in the fray. —

Kevin Sherrington, Dallas News, 20 Apr. 2023 Amid a state polling downturn in fall 2016 soon after Ms. Wiles took over in Florida, as Mr. Trump sawed at a steak one night at his Miami golf resort, she was summoned to his table for what amounted to a ritual castigation. —

Michael C. Bender, New York Times, 18 Apr. 2023 And their Land Cruiser doesn’t have to jockey for position just to get a decent view of the leopard, or to listen to its long, sawing roar. —

Katie Jackson, Robb Report, 15 Apr. 2023 One of them had been sawed off, police said previously. —

Michael Ruiz, Fox News, 6 Apr. 2023 The handles of Bertuzzi’s True sticks are sawed off and bare at the end. —

Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Mar. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'saw.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English sagh, sawe, going back to Old English sagu (strong feminine noun), going back to Germanic *sagō (whence also Middle Dutch sage "saw," Old High German saga, Old Icelandic sǫg) beside *segō (whence Middle Dutch sege "saw," Old High German sega), noun derivatives from a dialectal Indo-European verbal base *sek- "cut," whence also Middle Irish tescaid "(s/he) cuts, severs" (regularized from a presumed verb doˑesc, perhaps from *to-eks-sk-), Latin secō, secāre "to cut, sever, make an incision," Old Church Slavic sěkǫ, sěšti "to cut down, fell, hew," Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian sijèčēm, sjȅći "to cut, chop, hew"

Note: The base *sek- is peculiar to northwest (or European) Indo-European, being attested in Celtic, Italic, Germanic, and Slavic; *sek- is perhaps ultimately the same base as *skeh₂-, *skh₂- "cut open, flay"; see etymology and note at science.

Verb

Middle English sawen, derivative of sawe saw entry 2

Noun

Middle English sawe, from Old English sagu discourse; akin to Old High German & Old Norse saga tale, Old English secgan to say — more at say entry 1

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

13th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of saw was before the 12th century

See more words from the same century