saw

1 of 4

past tense of see

saw

2 of 4

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

3 of 4

verb

sawed ˈsȯd  ; sawed or sawn ˈsȯn  ; sawing ˈsȯ(-)iŋ 

transitive verb

1

: to cut with a saw

2

: to produce or form by cutting with a saw

3

: to slash as though with a saw

intransitive verb

1

a

: to use a saw

b

: to cut with or as if with a saw

2

: to undergo cutting with a saw

3

: to make motions as though using a saw

sawed at the reins

sawer

ˈsȯ(-ə)r 

noun

saw

4 of 4

noun

: maxim, proverb

Synonyms of saw

Noun

• saying
• proverb
• word

Examples of saw in a Sentence

Verb

He sawed the boards in half.

This blade is too dull for sawing.

Noun

it's an old saw that a red sunset presages fair skies the next day

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The adorable saw-whet is the smallest owl species in New England. —Breana Pitts, CBS News, 5 Mar. 2026

Crime-scene investigators bored holes and pulled out a succession of neat plastic packages containing razors, saw blades, handcuff keys, and security bits. —James Verini, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026

Verb

Under that amount of strain, the teeth of their ascenders could have sawed through the rope. —Robert Moor, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026

But just as Montana’s arms are about to be sawed off, his machine-gunning partner bursts in and rescues him. —Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2026

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

Phrases Containing saw

• band-saw
• bow saw
• buzz saw
• chain saw
• circular saw
• coping saw
• crosscut saw
• keyhole saw
• musical saw
• pit saw
• run/walk into a buzz saw
• saber saw
• saw at
• saw down
• saw grass
• saw palmetto
• saw set
• saw-toothed
• saw up
• saw-whet owl
• scroll saw
• (the) last someone saw

Rhymes for saw

• aah
• ah
• ahh
• aw
• awe
• bah
• blah
• bra
• caw
• claw
• craw
• daw

Kids Definition

saw

1 of 4

past of see

saw

2 of 4 noun

ˈsȯ 

: a hand or power tool or a machine used to cut hard material and equipped usually with a tooth-edged blade

saw

3 of 4 verb

sawed ˈsȯd  ; sawed or sawn ˈsȯn  ; sawing ˈsȯ(-)iŋ 

: to cut or shape with a saw

saw

4 of 4 noun

: a common saying : proverb

Medical Definition

saw

1 of 2

past of see

saw

2 of 2 noun

ˈsȯ 

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