saw

See also: Saw, SAW, sAw, and s'aw

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

A saw—a tool

Noun from Middle English sawe, sawgh, from Old English saga, sagu (“saw”), 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”), Swedish såg (“saw”), Icelandic sög (“saw”), and through Indo-European, with Latin secō (“cut”).

Verb from Middle English sawen.

Noun

saw (plural saws)

  1. A tool with a toothed blade used for cutting hard substances, in particular wood or metal
  2. A musical saw.
  3. A sawtooth wave.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

saw (third-person singular simple present saws, present participle sawing, simple past sawed, past participle sawed or sawn)

  1. (transitive) To cut (something) with a saw.
    They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
  2. (intransitive) To make a motion back and forth similar to cutting something with a saw.
    The fiddler sawed away at his instrument.
  3. (intransitive) To be cut with a saw.
    The timber saws smoothly.
  4. (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)
    to saw shingles; to saw out a panel
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English sawe, from Old English sagu, saga (“story, tale, saying, statement, report, narrative, tradition”), from Proto-Germanic *sagō, *sagǭ (“saying, story”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷe-, *skʷē- (“to tell, talk”). 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.

Noun

saw (plural saws)

  1. (obsolete) Something spoken; speech, discourse.
    • 1485 July 31, Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], (please specify the book number), [London: William Caxton], OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur, London: Published by David Nutt, in the Strand, 1889, OCLC 890162034:
      , Bk.V:
      And for thy trew sawys, and I may lyve many wynters, there was never no knyght better rewardid […].
      And for your true discourses, and I may live many winters, there was never no knight better rewarded […].
  2. (often old saw) A saying or proverb.
    • 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II Scene VII, lines 152-5.
      And then the justice, / In fair round belly with good capon lined, / With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, / Full of wise saws and modern instances.
    • 1902, Charles Robert Ashbee, Masque of the Edwards of England, page 8.
      At his crowning […] the priest in his honour preached on the saw, 'Vox populi, vox Dei.'
    • 2017, Andrew Marantz, "Becoming Steve Bannon's Bannon", The New Yorker, Feb 13&20 ed.
      There’s an old saw about Washington, D.C., that staffers in their twenties know more about the minutiae of government than their bosses do.
  3. (obsolete) Opinion, idea, belief; by thy ~, in your opinion; commune ~, common opinion; common knowledge; on no ~, by no means.
    • Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden
      Þe more comoun sawe is þat Remus was i-slawe for he leep ouer þe newe walles of Rome.
      The more common opinion is that Remus was slain for he lept over the new walls of Rome.
  4. (obsolete) Proposal, suggestion; possibility.
    • Earl of Toulouse
      All they assentyd to the sawe; They thoght he spake reson and lawe.
  5. (obsolete) Dictate; command; decree.
    • Spenser
      [Love] rules the creatures by his powerful saw.
Synonyms
  • See also Thesaurus:saying
Translations

Etymology 3

Verb

saw

  1. simple past tense of see

Interjection

saw

  1. (slang) what's up (either as a greeting or actual question)
    — Saw, dude?
    — Not much.

Anagrams

Atong (India)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /sʰaw/

Adjective

saw

  1. rotten

Kurdish

Noun

saw ?

  1. terror
  2. horror

Scots

Pronunciation

  • (Doric and most Southern Scots dialects) IPA(key): /sa/
  • (Central and some Southern Scots dialects) IPA(key): /sɔ/

Verb

saw

  1. (South Scots) simple past tense of sei
  2. (North Scots and Central Scots) simple past tense of see

Zhuang

Pronunciation

  • (Standard Zhuang) IPA(key): /θaɯ˨˦/
  • Tone numbers: saw1
  • Hyphenation: saw

Etymology 1

From Proto-Tai *sɯːᴬ (“writing; book”), from Middle Chinese 書 (MC ɕɨʌ, “writing; book”). Cognate with Lao ສື (sư̄, “letter, writing symbols”), Thai สือ (sʉ̌ʉ).

Noun

saw (old orthography saɯ, Sawndip forms 𭨡, 字)

  1. written language; writing; script
  2. (Chinese) character
  3. word
  4. book
  5. teaching material
  6. receipt; voucher
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Proto-Tai *saɰᴬ (“clear; clean”). Cogante with Thai ใส (sǎi, “clear; transparent”).

Adjective

saw (old orthography saɯ, Sawndip forms 𢙣, 㳏)

  1. clean
  2. (of transparent objects, water, etc.) clear
  3. (of liquids other than water) watery; thin

Etymology 3

Verb

saw (old orthography saɯ, Sawndip forms 賒)

  1. to lose
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