saw
saw (sô)
noun
- a cutting tool, of various shapes and sizes and worked by hand or machinery, consisting essentially of a thin blade or disk of metal, usually steel, the edge of which is a series of sharp teeth
- any of various tools or devices somewhat like this but with a sharp edge instead of teeth
- a machine for operating a saw or saws
Etymology: ME sawe < OE sagu, akin to Ger säge, Du zaag < IE base *sek-, to cut, > L secare, to cut, OE seax, knife
transitive verb sawed, sawed or Chiefly Brit.sawn, sawing saw′·ing
- to cut or divide with a saw
- to shape or form with a saw
- to make sawlike cutting motions through (the air, etc.)
- to operate or produce with a to-and-fro motion suggestive of that used in working a saw to saw a knife through meat, to saw a tune on a fiddle
intransitive verb
- to cut with or as with a saw or as a saw does
- to be cut with a saw wood that saws easily
- to make sawlike cutting motions
Related Forms:
- sawer saw′er noun
saw wood
☆saw (sô)
saw (sô)
transitive verb, intransitive verb
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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