saw
/sɔː/ noun, verb, interjection, proper noun
Also a form of see
Forms saws sawing sawed sawn Sawh
- noun (usually) Such a tool with a toothed blade.
- noun (sometimes) Such a tool with an abrasive coating instead of teeth.
- noun A musical saw.
- noun A sawtooth wave.
- noun (whist) The situation where two partners agree to trump a suit alternately, playing that suit to each other for the express purpose.
- verb (transitive) To cut (something) with a saw.
- verb (intransitive) To make a motion back and forth similar to cutting something with a saw.
- verb (intransitive) To be cut with a saw. “The timber saws smoothly.”
- verb (transitive) To form or produce (something) by cutting with a saw. “to saw boards or planks (i.e. to saw logs or timber into boards or planks)”
- noun (obsolete) Something spoken; speech, discourse.
- noun (archaic) A saying or proverb. “old saw”
- noun (obsolete) Opinion, idea, belief. “by thy saw”
- noun (obsolete) Proposal, suggestion; possibility.
- noun (obsolete) Dictate; command; decree.
- interjection (Islam, sometimes proscribed) صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ (ṣallā llāhu ʕalayhi wa-sallama, “peace be upon him”)
- proper noun A surname.
- noun (slang, African-American Vernacular) A Bahamian.
Synonyms
byword saying adage proverb maxim apothegm apophthegm dictum gnome gnomic saying mantra paroemia PBUH AS power saw sawing machine
Etymology
The noun from Middle English sawe, sawgh, from Old English saga, sagu (“saw”), from Proto-West Germanic *sagu, from Proto-Germanic *sagô, *sagō (“saw”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”).
Cognate with West Frisian seage (“saw”), Dutch zaag (“saw”), German Säge (“saw”), Danish sav (“saw”), Faroese, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk sag (“saw”), Swedish såg (“saw”), Icelandic sög (“saw”), and through Indo-European, with Latin secō (“cut”) and Italian sega (“saw”).
The verb from Middle English sawen, from the noun above.
From Middle English sawe, from Old English sagu, saga (“story, tale, saying, statement, report, narrative, tradition”), from Proto-West Germanic *sagā, from Proto-Germanic *sagō, *sagǭ (“saying, story”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷe-, *skʷē-, from *sekʷ- (“to say”).
Cognate with Dutch sage (“saga”), German Sage (“legend, saga, tale, fable”), Danish sagn (“legend”), Norwegian soga (“story”), Icelandic saga (“story, tale, history”). More at saga, say. Doublet of saga.
From Arabic
* English metonymic occupational surname for a sawyer, from saw. Compare Sawyer.
* Borrowed from Hindi साव (sāv); this surname is predominantly found in Jharkhand state.
* Borrowed from Burmese စော (cau:), a nickname meaning "honorable".
Webster’s 1913
- noun Something said; speech; discourse. [Obs.] "To hearken all his sawe." Chaucer.
- noun A saying; a proverb; a maxim.
- noun An instrument for cutting or dividing substances, as wood, iron, etc., consisting of a thin blade, or plate, of steel, with a series of sharp teeth on the edge, which remove successive portions of the material by cutting and tearing.
- verb To cut with a saw; to separate with a saw; as, to saw timber or marble.
Etymology [OE. sawe, AS. sagu; akin to secgan to say. See Say, v. t. and cf. Saga.]
Etymology [OE. sawe, AS. sage; akin to D. zaag, G. säge, OHG. sega, saga, Dan. sav, sw. såg, Icel. sög, L. secare to cut, securis ax, secula sickle. Cf. Scythe, Sickle, Section, Sedge.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “saw”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details