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saw1

Syllabification: (saw)
Pronunciation: /sô/
Translate saw | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of saw

noun

  • a hand tool for cutting wood or other materials, typically with a long, thin serrated steel blade and operated using a backward and forward movement.
  • a mechanical power-driven tool for cutting, typically with a toothed rotating disk or moving band.

verb (past participle chiefly Britishsawn /sôn/ or chiefly North American sawed)

[with object]
  • cut (something, especially wood or a tree) using a saw:the top of each post is sawed off at railing height [no object]:thieves escaped after sawing through iron bars on a basement window [as adjective, in combination]: (-sawn)rough-sawn planks
  • make or form (something) using a saw:the seats are sawed from well-seasoned oak planks
  • cut (something) as if with a saw, especially roughly or so as to leave rough or unfinished edges:the woman who sawed off all my lovely hair
  • [no object] make rapid sawlike motions in cutting something or in playing a stringed instrument:he was sawing away at the loaf of bread

Derivatives

sawlike

Pronunciation: /-ˌlīk/
adjective

Origin:

Old English saga, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch zaag

saw in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of saw in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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