1. saw(n = noun.communication) adage, byword, proverb - a condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people;
is a kind of expression, locution, saying
2. saw(n = noun.artifact) - hand tool having a toothed blade for cutting;
is a kind of hand tool
has parts: sawtooth, tooth
has particulars: bill, billhook, bucksaw, crown saw, folding saw, hack saw, hacksaw, metal saw, carpenter's saw, hand saw, handsaw, lumberman's saw, two-handed saw, two-man saw, whipsaw
Derived form verb saw1
3. saw(n = noun.artifact) power saw, sawing machine - a power tool for cutting wood;
is a kind of power tool
has parts: tooth
has particulars: band saw, bandsaw, chain saw, chainsaw, buzz saw, circular saw, gangsaw, fretsaw, jigsaw, scroll saw, jigsaw, reciprocating saw, saber saw, sawmill
Derived form verb saw1
saw(v = verb.contact) - cut with a saw; "saw wood for the fireplace"
is one way to cut
Derived forms noun saw3, noun saw2, noun sawyer1
Sample sentences:
Somebody ----s something
1. Something said; speech; discourse. Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
2. A saying; a proverb; a maxim. [1913 Webster]
"His champions are the prophets and apostles,
His weapons holy saws of sacred writ." [1913 Webster]
3. Dictate; command; decree. [1913 Webster]
"[Love] rules the creatures by his powerful saw." [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
" Saw is frequently used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound." [1913 Webster]
1. To cut with a saw; to separate with a saw; as, to saw timber or marble. [1913 Webster]
2. To form by cutting with a saw; as, to saw boards or planks, that is, to saw logs or timber into boards or planks; to saw shingles; to saw out a panel. [1913 Webster]
3. Also used figuratively; as, to saw the air. [1913 Webster]
1. To use a saw; to practice sawing; as, a man saws well. [1913 Webster]
2. To cut, as a saw; as, the saw or mill saws fast. [1913 Webster]
3. To be cut with a saw; as, the timber saws smoothly. [1913 Webster]
saw, n. & v.
--n.
1 a a hand tool having a toothed blade used to cut esp. wood with a to-and-fro movement. b any of several mechanical power-driven devices with a toothed rotating disk or moving band, for cutting.
2 Zool. etc. a serrated organ or part.
--v. (past part. sawn or sawed)
1 tr. a cut (wood etc.) with a saw. b make (boards etc.) with a saw.
2 intr. use a saw.
3 a intr. move to and fro with a motion as of a saw or person sawing (sawing away on his violin). b tr. divide (the air etc.) with gesticulations.
Idiom:
saw-doctor a machine for making the teeth of a saw. saw-edged with a jagged edge like a saw. saw-frame a frame in which a saw-blade is held taut. saw-gate = saw-frame. saw-gin = cotton-gin. saw-horse a rack supporting wood for sawing. sawn-off (US sawed-off)
1 (of a gun) having part of the barrel sawn off to make it easier to handle and give a wider field of fire.
2 colloq. (of a person) short. saw-pit a pit in which the lower of two men working a pit-saw stands. saw-set a tool for wrenching saw-teeth in alternate directions to allow the saw to work freely. saw-wort a composite plant, Serratula tinctoria, yielding a yellow dye from its serrated leaves.
Derivative:
sawlike adj.
saw, past of SEE(1).
saw, n. a proverb; a maxim (that's just an old saw).
Etymology:
OE sagu f. Gmc, rel. to SAY: cf. SAGA
VB be disjoined, come off, fall off, come to pieces, fall to pieces, peel off, get loose, disjoin, disconnect, disengage, disunite, dissociate, dispair, divorce, part, dispart, detach, separate, cut off, rescind, segregate, set apart, keep apart, insulate, isolate, throw out of gear, cut adrift, loose, unloose, undo, unbind, unchain, unlock, unpack, unravel, disentangle, set free, sunder, divide, subdivide, sever, dissever, abscind, circumcise, cut, incide, incise, saw, snip, nib, nip, cleave, rive, rend, slit, split, splinter, chip, crack, snap, break, tear, burst, rend, rend asunder, rend in twain, wrench, rupture, shatter, shiver, cranch, crunch, craunch, chop, cut up, rip up, hack, hew, slash, whittle, haggle, hackle, discind, lacerate, scamble, mangle, gash, hash, slice, cut up, carve, dissect, anatomize, dislimb, take to pieces, pull to pieces, pick to pieces, tear to pieces, tear to tatters, tear piecemeal, tear limb from limb, divellicate, skin, disintegrate, dismember, disbranch, disband, disperse, dislocate, disjoint, break up, mince, comminute, apportion, part, part company, separate, leave.
N notch, dent, nick, cut, indent, indentation, dimple, embrasure, battlement, machicolation, saw, tooth, crenelle, scallop, scollop, vandyke, depression, jag, notched, crenate, crenated, dentate, dentated, denticulate, denticulated, toothed, palmated, serrated.
N maxim, aphorism, apothegm, apophthegm, dictum, saying, adage, saw, proverb, sentence, mot, motto, word, byword, moral, phylactery, protasis, axiom, theorem, scholium, truism, postulate, first principles, a priori fact, assumption (supposition), reflection, conclusion, golden rule, principle, principia, profession of faith, settled principle, accepted principle, formula, accepted fact, received truth, wise maxim, sage maxim, received maxim, admitted maxim, recognized maxim, true saying, common saying, hackneyed saying, trite saying, commonplace saying, aphoristic, proverbial, phylacteric, axiomatic, gnomic, as the saying goes, as the saying is, as they say.
back saw, band saw, buzz saw, carpenter's saw, chain saw, circular saw, compass saw, coping saw, crosscut saw, crown saw, cutoff saw, folding saw, hack saw, hand saw, keyhole saw, lumberman's saw, metal saw, old saw, portable circular saw, portable saw, power saw, pruning saw, reciprocating saw, saber saw, saw log, saw logs, saw palmetto, saw set, saw toothed, saw wood, scroll saw, table saw, tenant saw, two-handed saw, two-man saw