Library / English Dictionary

SAW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: sawn   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A power tool for cutting wood

Synonyms:

power saw; saw; sawing machine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("saw" is a kind of...):

power tool (a tool driven by a motor)

Meronyms (parts of "saw"):

tooth (something resembling the tooth of an animal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "saw"):

band saw; bandsaw (an endless saw consisting of a toothed metal band that is driven around two wheels)

chain saw; chainsaw (portable power saw; teeth linked to form an endless chain)

buzz saw; circular saw (a power saw that has a steel disk with cutting teeth on the periphery; rotates on a spindle)

gangsaw (a power saw that has several parallel blades making simultaneous cuts)

fretsaw; jigsaw; scroll saw (fine-toothed power saw with a narrow blade; used to cut curved outlines)

jigsaw; reciprocating saw; saber saw (a portable power saw with a reciprocating blade; can be used with a variety of blades depending on the application and kind of cut; generally have a plate that rides on the surface that is being cut)

sawmill (a large sawing machine)

Derivation:

saw (cut with a saw)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hand tool having a toothed blade for cutting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("saw" is a kind of...):

hand tool (a tool used with workers' hands)

Meronyms (parts of "saw"):

sawtooth (a serration on a saw blade)

tooth (something resembling the tooth of an animal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "saw"):

bucksaw (a saw that is set in a frame in the shape of an H; used with both hands to cut wood that is held in a sawbuck)

crown saw (a saw having teeth around the edge of a hollow cylinder)

folding saw (a saw with a toothed blade that folds into a handle (the way a pocketknife folds))

hack saw; hacksaw; metal saw (saw used with one hand for cutting metal)

carpenter's saw; hand saw; handsaw (a saw used with one hand for cutting wood)

lumberman's saw; two-handed saw; two-man saw; whipsaw (a saw with handles at both ends; intended for use by two people)

Derivation:

saw (cut with a saw)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people

Synonyms:

adage; byword; proverb; saw

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("saw" is a kind of...):

expression; locution; saying (a word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cut with a saw

Example:

saw wood for the fireplace

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "saw" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "saw"):

whipsaw (saw with a whipsaw)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

saw (a power tool for cutting wood)

saw (hand tool having a toothed blade for cutting)

sawyer (one who is employed to saw wood)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Of her other, her older, her more established friend, Isabella, of whose fidelity and worth she had enjoyed a fortnight's experience, she scarcely saw anything during the evening.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

“Jim,” he said at length, “you saw that seafaring man today?”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But, when they tuned the scanner differently, the blood vessels disappeared, and the researchers saw that dura also contained smaller but almost equally bright spots and lines which they suspected were lymph vessels.

(NIH researchers uncover drain pipes in our brains, National Institutes of Health)

Instead, they saw evidence that the stars were born in a pancake-shaped disk.

(Massive Dead Disk Galaxy Challenges Theories of Galaxy Evolution, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Multiple P waves typically appear in the inferior leads in a saw tooth-like pattern between the QRS complexes.

(Atrial Flutter, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Multiple P waves typically appear in the inferior leads in a saw tooth like pattern between the QRS complexes.

(Atrial Flutter by ECG Finding, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Amy held her tongue, but used her eyes, and saw Meg slip a fan into her pocket.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

And she, glancing at him across her shoulder, saw something of all this in his face.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Of course I at once saw the enormous importance of the observation.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)