sawmill

noun

saw·​mill ˈsȯ-ˌmil How to pronounce sawmill (audio)
: a mill or machine for sawing logs

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web The California Gold Rush started in 1848, when, by chance, a Sutter’s Mill employee was inspecting the sawmill and discovered an abundance of gold flecks in the water. Carolyn Hagler, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Apr. 2023 On the morning of January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall was inspecting progress on the construction of a sawmill on the banks of the American River, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, about a hundred and thirty miles northeast of San Francisco. Michael Luo, The New Yorker, 23 Aug. 2021 Stamets spent a summer toiling as a sawmill hand before enrolling at Kenyon College in Ohio. Kenneth Miller, Discover Magazine, 30 May 2013 Placerville is a 15-minute drive from the valley where James Marshall, a carpenter from New Jersey, was building a sawmill in January 1848 along the American River when something shiny in the water caught his eye. Thomas Fuller Jim Wilson, New York Times, 22 Apr. 2023 Jerry Lee Lewis was born Sept. 29, 1935, in Ferriday, La., a small farming and sawmill community on the Mississippi River. Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 28 Oct. 2022 The sawmill, some 10 miles west of Monroe in Benton County, was one of the last to operate under steam power and remain commercially viable. Tom Henderson | For The Oregonian/oregonlive, oregonlive, 22 Sep. 2022 At a timber music school that had just opened in the town of Rakkestad, Norway, the exterior cladding still had the scent of the sawmill. Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 18 Apr. 2022 The new features sprawl across the remains of the Bassett sawmill, the Columbia flour mill and the Occidental feed mill, relics of the 19th-century milling district that harnessed the power of the only major waterfall on the Mississippi River to establish the city of Minneapolis. Susan Du, Star Tribune, 20 May 2021 See More

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

Word History

First Known Use

1553, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of sawmill was in 1553

Dictionary Entries Near sawmill

Cite this Entry

“Sawmill.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sawmill. Accessed 5 Jun. 2023.

Kids Definition

sawmill

noun
saw·​mill -ˌmil How to pronounce sawmill (audio)
: a mill or machine for sawing logs

More from Merriam-Webster on sawmill

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