saw

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sô, IPA^(key): /sɔː/

  Homophones: (in some non-rhotic accents): soar, sore

• Rhymes: -ɔː
• (US) enPR: sô, IPA^(key): /sɔ/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: sä, IPA^(key): /sɑː/

  (idiosyncratic, past tense of 'see') IPA^(key): /sɑːl/

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A saw—a tool

The 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”) and Italian sega (“saw”).

The verb from Middle English sawen, from the noun above.

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.

• Sranan Tongo: sa

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.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Hebrews 11:37:

   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

• saw gourds
• saw wood

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-, from *sekʷ- (“to follow”). 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.

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]: […] [by William Caxton], OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: Published by David Nutt, […], 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.

• soothsaw
• withsaw

• See also Thesaurus:saying

saw

1. simple past tense of see

saw

1. (slang) what's up (either as a greeting or actual question)

   — Saw, dude?
   — Not much.

• ASW, AWS, aws, was

• IPA^(key): /sʰaw/

saw

1. rotten

saw

1. four

saw ?

1. terror
2. horror

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

saw

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

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

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).

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

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

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

saw (old orthography saɯ, Sawndip forms 賒)

1. to lose