1
: one that saws
2
or sawyer beetle
: any of several large long-horned beetles whose larvae bore large holes in timber or dead wood especially of various conifers
3
: a tree fast in the bed of a stream with its branches projecting to the surface and bobbing up and down with the current
Examples of sawyer in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
His years spent going from one forest logging job to another, pairing up with other sawyers to fell giant spruces, yield marvelous vignettes of wilderness frontier life.
—
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Jan. 2025
The crew spread out, and sawyers began to cut the chaparral with their saws.
—M. R. O’Connor, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
His father, George, owned 25,000 acres of land and operated large plantations in Virginia, relying on enslaved people to work as carpenters, coopers, sawyers, blacksmiths, tanners, shoemakers, spinners, weavers, knitters, distillers, cooks, laundry maids and field laborers.
—Sue Eisenfeld, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Feb. 2024
For this reason, some sawyers prefer to over-tighten the chain a bit while sharpening to keep it taut, then reset to the proper tension once the job is complete.
—Scott Bestul, Field & Stream, 13 July 2023
The western red cedar used for the front and back pergolas as well as all the exterior window trim was cut and milled by a sawyer up in Cloverdale, Oregon.
—Sarah Yang, Sunset Magazine, 15 Feb. 2023
Interfor, one of the pandemic's hottest stocks, is the latest sawyer to announce cutbacks, citing declining wood demand in its decision to reduce fourth-quarter lumber output by 17%.
—Ryan Dezember, WSJ, 21 Oct. 2022
The cotton-elastane blend stretched well enough for one sawyer to use proper form and wear chainsaw chaps while bucking wood.
—Charlie Ebbers, Outside Online, 18 Oct. 2022
The year after the Nuttall Fire, West became a sawyer, operating a chainsaw in heavy timber, often on the hot edge of a fire—one of the most dangerous jobs on a hotshot crew.
—The New Yorker, 8 Nov. 2021
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David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Jan. 2025
The crew spread out, and sawyers began to cut the chaparral with their saws.
—M. R. O’Connor, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
His father, George, owned 25,000 acres of land and operated large plantations in Virginia, relying on enslaved people to work as carpenters, coopers, sawyers, blacksmiths, tanners, shoemakers, spinners, weavers, knitters, distillers, cooks, laundry maids and field laborers.
—Sue Eisenfeld, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Feb. 2024
For this reason, some sawyers prefer to over-tighten the chain a bit while sharpening to keep it taut, then reset to the proper tension once the job is complete.
—Scott Bestul, Field & Stream, 13 July 2023
The western red cedar used for the front and back pergolas as well as all the exterior window trim was cut and milled by a sawyer up in Cloverdale, Oregon.
—Sarah Yang, Sunset Magazine, 15 Feb. 2023
Interfor, one of the pandemic's hottest stocks, is the latest sawyer to announce cutbacks, citing declining wood demand in its decision to reduce fourth-quarter lumber output by 17%.
—Ryan Dezember, WSJ, 21 Oct. 2022
The cotton-elastane blend stretched well enough for one sawyer to use proper form and wear chainsaw chaps while bucking wood.
—Charlie Ebbers, Outside Online, 18 Oct. 2022
The year after the Nuttall Fire, West became a sawyer, operating a chainsaw in heavy timber, often on the hot edge of a fire—one of the most dangerous jobs on a hotshot crew.
—The New Yorker, 8 Nov. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Sawyer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sawyer. Accessed 6 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
sawyer
noun
saw·yer
ˈsȯ-yər 
ˈsȯi-ər
: a person who saws timber
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