English Explanatory Dictionary

saw

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A tool used for cutting hard substances, in particular wood or metal.
  2. Such a tool with a toothed blade.
  3. Such a tool with an abrasive coating instead of teeth.
  4. A musical saw.
  5. A sawtooth wave.
  6. The situation where two partners agree to trump a suit alternately, playing that suit to each other for the express purpose.
verb
  1. To cut (something) with a saw.
  2. To make a motion back and forth similar to cutting something with a saw.
  3. To be cut with a saw.
  4. To form or produce (something) by cutting with a saw.
noun
  1. Something spoken; speech, discourse.
  2. A saying or proverb.
  3. Opinion, idea, belief.
  4. Proposal, suggestion; possibility.
  5. Dictate; command; decree.
verb
  1. simple past of see
  2. past participle of see
intj
  1. صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ (ṣallā llāhu ʕalayhi wa-sallama, “peace be upon him”)
noun
  1. Acronym of squad automatic weapon or section automatic weapon, a kind of light machine gun.
  2. Initialism of surface acoustic wave.
  3. Acronym of solar array wing
name
  1. Initialism of Stock Aitken Waterman, an English songwriting and record production trio.
name
  1. A surname.
noun
  1. A Bahamian.

Pronunciation

sô /sɔː/ /soː/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Pvanp7-saw.wav /sɑ/ sä en-us-saw.ogg /sɔ/ [sɔɹ] LL-Q1860 (eng)-Knabrupt-saw.wav /sɑl/ En-au-Saw.ogg

Word forms

saw saws sawing sawed sawn Sawh

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.

Synonyms

byword saying adage saw proverb maxim apothegm apophthegm dictum gnome gnomic saying mantra paroemia PBUH AS s

Related words

saw sam sai

Derived words

saw-stool saw-trestle saw doctor saw-edged saw file saw gin saw palmetto saw set saw wrest sawback sawblade sawbones sawbuck sawgrass sawhorse sawist sawlog sawman sawmill sawpit saw-scaled viper saw stroke saw-whet owl sawtooth saw-tooth saw-toothed sawyer saw gourds saw logs saw off saw off the branch one is sitting on saw the baby in half saw wood old saw soothsaw withsaw

Translations

Aghwan: 𐕀𐔴𐕀𐔴𐕙 Albanian: sharrë Southern Altai: кирее Southern Altai: бычкы Arabic: مِنْشَار Arabic: منشار Aramaic: ܡܣܪܐ Armenian: սղոց Aromanian: sharã Assamese: কৰত Asturian: sierra Azerbaijani: mişar Baluchi: ہرگ Basque: zerra Belarusian: піла́ Bengali: করাত Bulgarian: трио́н Burmese: လွှ Catalan: serra Chechen: херх Cherokee: ᎦᏅᏙᎩ Cheyenne: é'ėxovahtȯtse Chinese Cantonese: 鋸 /锯 Chinese Mandarin: 鋸子 /锯子 Chinese Mandarin: 鋸 /锯 Chuvash: пӑчки Ngazidja Comorian: msimanyo Coptic: ⲃⲁϣⲟⲩⲣ Czech: pila Danish: sav Daur: kiree Dolgan: эрбии Dongxiang: qirou Dutch: zaag East Yugur: küree Esperanto: segilo Estonian: saag Evenki: хувун Faroese: sag Finnish: saha French: scie West-Frisian: seage Friulian: see
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