| 释义 |
▪ I. saw, n.1|sɔː|
Forms: 1 saᵹu, saᵹa, 4 sagh, 4–7 sawe, 5 sae, saghe, saȝe, 5– saw.
[OE. *saᵹu str. fem., in oblique cases saᵹe (also saᵹa wk. masc.) = OHG. saga, MLG., MDu. sage (Du. zaag), ON. sǫg (Sw. såg, Da. sav, † saug):—OTeut. *sagā str. fem.; the ablaut-var. *segā appears in OHG. sega (MHG. sege, mod.G. säge); cogn. w. OE. seax (:—*sahso-) knife, sax n.1, f. pre-Teut. root *sok-: *sek- to cut; cf. L. secāre to cut.]
1. a. A cutting tool consisting of a plate (or, in some forms, a band or a tube) of metal (usually steel), one edge of which is formed into a continuous series of teeth. (Some saws for cutting stone are without teeth.) In the original form of the tool, represented by the hand-saw, and in some varieties of more modern invention, e.g. the pit-saw (see pit n.1 15), the saw is moved backwards and forwards, each movement in one direction deepening the groove or ‘kerf’ made in the wood or other material to be cut. In other varieties, as the circular saw and the band-saw, a continuous movement in one direction is substituted for the reciprocating movement.
Ordinarily saw means the complete instrument including the handle, frame, or the like, necessary to fit it for use; but sometimes the word is applied to the ‘saw-plate’ or ‘saw-blade’ alone.
Also with defining words, indicating special varieties of form, structure, mode of operation, or purpose, as in band saw, circular saw, compass saw, drag saw, endless saw, frame saw, fret saw, gate saw, hand saw, ice saw, joint saw, keyhole saw, lock saw, meat saw, mill saw, panel saw, pit saw, rabbet saw, rip saw, sash saw, tenon saw, web saw. These terms, so far as they have been thought to require notice in this Dictionary, are treated either under their first element or as main words. A considerable number of kinds of saws used for surgical purposes are distinguished by the names of their inventors, as Butcher's, Ferguson's, Gowan's, Hey's, Liston's saw.
c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 106/22 Serrula, saᵹa, uel snide. a1100Gerefa in Anglia IX. 263/1 He sceal..habban..æcse, adsan, saᵹe. a1300Cursor M. 27376 Away to sagh þam ilk crote, wit þe sagh o penance treu þat þe frut spring efter neu. c1340Nominale (Skeat) 525 File sawe and spindelle. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 383 Þis Perdix..took a plate of iren, and fyled it, and made it i-toþed as a rugge boon of a fische, and þanne it was a sawe. a1400–50Alexander 4096 A burly best with a bake as bedell as a saȝe. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 75 After that Ysay was kytte with a sae of tree. 1533Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. VI. 155 Ane saw send to the werkmen in Lochaber to cut the tymmer for the artailzerie. 1681Grew Musæum iv. §i. 360 A Box of Anatomick Instruments; sc. Saws, Steel and Ivory Knives [etc.]. 1784Cowper Task v. 145 No sound of hammer or of saw was there. 1816J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 16 Saws for cutting metals, are made very narrow,..and stretched by a screw at one end. 1886Encycl. Brit. XXI. 343/2 The principal modern use of the saw is to divide wood.
transf. and fig.1593Shakes. Lucr. 1672 Euen so his sighes, his sorrowes make a saw, To push griefe on, and back the same grief draw. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. viii. 138 Faction, hatred, livor, emulation, which..are, serræ animæ, the sawes of the soule. 1871Kingsley At Last iv, You..see aloft the saw of the mountain ridges against the black-blue sky.
†b. In obsolete phrases. to draw the saw (of contention or controversy): to keep up a fruitless dispute. to be under the saw of contention: (of a question) to be the subject of profitless dispute. to hand the saw: to take turns, change parts, with another in some work or function. to hold (a person) at the long saw: to keep in suspense.
1654Jer. Taylor Real Pres. A 1, The Question of Transubstantiation, which hath already so many times passed by the Fire and under the Saw of Contention. 1659Bp. Walton Consid. Considered 305 Yet if he think fit to draw this saw of contention further,..I [etc.]. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 101 Now because ghost cannot hand the saw thus with body..Thence 'tis [etc.]. 1688Lond. Gaz. No. 2329/3 It would be of little avail to draw the Saw any longer of Answers and Retorts. 1710Prideaux Orig. Tithes Pref. 12 Neither will I draw the saw of contention with any one in answering any of the Cavils. a1733North Life Ld. Kpr. (1742) 79 So, between the one and the other, he was held at the Long Saw above a Month. 1768Wesley Wks. (1872) XIV. 343 Having neither leisure nor inclination to draw the saw of controversy.
c. A flexible saw used as a musical instrument, played with a bow.
1931Daily Mail 6 Oct. 16/3 Saw solos. 1938Oxf. Compan. Mus. 872/1 Singing saw. This is an ordinary hand saw which is held between the player's knees and played on by a violin bow; its blade is meanwhile bent, under a lesser or greater tension, by the player's left hand, so producing the different pitches. 1961Times 18 Jan. 15/5 An instrument believed to be wholly new in the orchestra pit, the musical saw. 1977Times 14 Dec. 14/8 The Anal Zephyr Trio does exist..(apart from the pianist) it includes a saw and bottles.
2. Zool. A part or organ with teeth like those of a saw. Also Comb. saw-bearing adj.
1664Hubert Catal. Rarities (1665) 32 A very great Saw, or weapon of a Saw-fish, with the which he torments the Whale. 1747Gould Eng. Ants 4 The double Saw is a hard bony Substance. Ibid., They [sc. Ants] have four or five Teeth in a Saw. 1754Fielding Voy. Lisbon Wks. 1882 VII. 64 The sting or saw of a wasp. 1854A. Adams, etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 222 Saw-bearing Hymenoptera (Securifera). 1866Chamb. Encycl. VIII. 508/2 Whales are said to be sometimes killed by sawfishes, and the saw has been sometimes driven into the hull of a ship. 1871T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 360 The saws of the various species of Tenthredo are as diversified as the habits of the insects to which they belong. 1885G. S. Forbes Wild Life Canara 51 A great saw-fish, which measured about twenty-one feet from the end of the saw to the tail.
3. [Properly a distinct word, f. saw v.]
a. A sawing movement. (In Dicts.).
b. Whist. = see-saw n. 1 c.
1746Hoyle Whist (ed. 6) 36 You gain the Advantage of establishing of a Saw. 1755Connoisseur No. 60 ⁋4 (1761) II. 195, A forces B, who, by leading Spades, plays into A's Hand, who returns a Club, and so they get a Saw between them. c1890Up to Date Games of Cards 37 Saw, is when each partner trumps a different suit, and they play those suits to each other for that purpose.
4. Short for sawfish. rare.
1888G. H. Kingsley Sport & Travel vi. (1900) 180 Across the mouth of the bay cruised a pair of saws, some ten or twelve feet long.
5. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attrib., as saw-blade, saw-carriage, saw machine, saw-mandrel, saw-mark;
b. objective, as saw-filer, saw-filing, saw-grinder, saw-maker, saw-piercer, saw-setter, saw-setting;
c. similative, as saw-backed, saw-beaked, saw-leaved, saw-like, saw-shaped, saw-toothed, saw-topped adjs.
1903Kipling Five Nations 176 The same old *saw-backed fever-chart. 1924R. Campbell Flaming Terrapin v. 77 The angel cowboys..Vaulting on the saw-backed ridges Where they tear the sky to strips. 1961C. H. D. Todd Popular Whippet 33 One is often asked about a ‘saw-backed’ dog and what can be done about it.
1869–73T. R. Jones Cassell's Bk. Birds III. 95 The *Saw-beaked Alcyons (Syma).
1831J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 275 Of the elastic steel, a *saw-blade may be considered an example.
1886Encycl. Brit. XXI. 345/1 Here they are rolled upon skids leading to the *saw-carriage.
1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 200 Where the *saw-edged knife in one of the cylinders perforates the web.
1881Young Every Man his own Mech. §347 This *saw-filer's vice may be obtained [etc.].
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Saw-filing machine, one for sharpening the teeth of saws.
1861Sat. Rev. 21 Dec. 635 The *Sawgrinders' Union in Sheffield.
1822Hortus Anglicus II. 252 *Saw-leaved Vetch.
1611Cotgr. s.v. Scie, Scie de mer, a kind of Whall which hath a *Saw-like snowt. 1881Newton in Encycl. Brit. XII. 358/1 Fine, horny, saw-like teeth.
1822T. Gill Techn. Repos. II. 217 An improved *Saw Machine.
1662Comenius' Janua Ling. Triling. 103 The *saw-maker [maketh] saws. 1816J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 9 Saw makers first harden their plates in the usual way.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Saw-mandrel, a holdfast for a saw in a lathe. 1873J. Richards Operator's Handbk. 117 Saw mandrils..should be as strong as possible, to stand the speed.
1875Ure's Dict. Arts I. 420 The cross cords become embedded in the *saw-marks by the pressure of the sewing thread.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Saw piercer, a workman who cuts the teeth of saws.
1881Young Every Man his own Mech. §342 Any itinerant *saw-setter, who goes his regular round..with his bench and files.
Ibid. §346 Useful contrivance for *saw setting [etc.].
1842Brande Dict. Sci. etc., s.v. Securifers, The females have a *saw-shaped or hatchet-shaped terebra. 1868Rep. Munitions of War 102 The rifling is what is termed in England the Scott or saw-shaped system.
1588Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. vi. 36 b, Shee is splayfooted, crookbacked, tunnebellied, *sawtoothed, &c. 1857A. Gray First Less. Bot. (1866) 229 Saw-toothed: see serrate. 1866Owen Anat. Vertebr. II. 495 The saw-toothed Sterrink (Stenorhynchus serridens). 1874Eassie Wood & Uses 165 Figs. 217 and 218 are each of the kind known as the saw-toothed roof,..used in weaving and other sheds.
d. Special combinations: saw-bar, either of the two bars which hold the saw in a fretwork machine; † saw battle, a disposition of troops in which the battalions form a serrated front; saw-bearing a. (see sense 2); saw-belly U.S., a name for the glut herring (Clupea æstivalis), and the alewife (C. serrata); saw-bench, a circular saw with a bench to support the material and advance it to the saw; † sawboard, timber sawn into boards; † saw-carf = saw-kerf; saw-cut n., an incision made with a saw; saw-cut v. Bookbinding, to make saw-cuts in (the back of a book); saw-doctor, (a) ‘an instrument having an angular punch for cutting pieces out of the edge of a saw-blade, to increase the depth of the interdental spaces; a saw-gummer’ (Knight); (b) a craftsman who maintains saws in an efficient condition; saw-edge, a serrated edge (in quot. of a ridge of rock); saw-edged a., having a serrated edge; saw-file, a file specially adapted for sharpening the teeth of saws; saw-frame, (a) the frame in which a saw-blade is stretched; (b) the sash or gate of a mill saw; saw-gin, a form of cotton-gin in which the fibres are torn from the seed by revolving toothed discs or circular saws; saw-ginned a., prepared by means of the saw-gin; saw-grass, (a) = saw-wort; (b) U.S., a sedge of the genus Cladium; saw-gummer = gummer1 b; saw-handle, (a) the handle of a saw; (b) slang, the handle of a ‘saw-handled’ pistol; saw-handled a., having a handle shaped like that of a saw; saw-horned a., having serrate antennæ; saw-horse, a frame or trestle for supporting wood that is being sawn, a saw-buck; saw-kerf n. = kerf n. 2; v. trans., to make a saw-kerf in; hence saw-kerfing vbl. n.; saw-log (see quot.); † saw-muscle = serratus; saw-pad (see pad n. 8); saw palmetto, a palmetto, Serenoa serratula, with prickly leaf-stalks; also, a small cluster palm, Acoelorrhaphe wrightii, of southern Florida and central America; saw-pierced a., cut out with a frame-saw or piercing-saw; so saw-piercing; saw-plate, (a) the blade of a saw; (b) iron in plates of the thickness of the blade of a saw; saw-sash U.S. (see sash n.2 3 b); saw-scale = saw-scaled viper; saw-scaled viper, a small venomous rough-scaled snake, Echis carinatus, of the family Viperidæ, found in Africa and southern Asia; saw-set, an instrument for setting the teeth of a saw: also attrib.; saw-shark, a small shark of the family Pristiophoridæ, found in southern seas from Africa to Australia and distinguished by a saw-like flattened snout; saw-sharpener, (a) one who sharpens saws; (b) a name for the Great Titmouse, Parus major (cf. saw-whetter); saw-spindle, the shaft of a circular saw; † saw-stage, ? = saw-pit; saw-tail, a bird (Temnurus truncatus) inhabiting Cochin China (T. R. Jones Cassell's Bk. Birds, 1869–73); saw-timber, timber suitable for sawing into boards or planks; saw-way = saw-kerf; saw-whet N. Amer., a small dark brown owl, ægolius acadica, found in eastern North America; saw-whetter, (a) = saw-whet; (b) the marsh titmouse, Parus palustris; saw-work Fortif. (see quot.); saw-wrack Bot., the seaweed Fucus serratus; saw-wrest = saw-set. Also sawbill, sawbuck, etc.
1875Seaton Fret Cutting 18 An iron eye, screwed in exactly under the lower *saw bar.
1598Barret Theor. Warres 80 The *Saw battell containeth 3 sharpe angles framed of 6 battalions.
1884Goode, etc. Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 582 Around the Gulf of Maine this species is also known by the names ‘Kyack’ or ‘Kyauk’, ‘*Saw-belly’, and ‘Cat-thrasher’.
1846Holtzapffel Turning, etc. II. 793 The flooring boards..were grooved on each edge upon an ordinary *saw bench. 1869Rankine Cycl. Machine & Hand Tools Pl. Q 16 Improved self-acting saw bench.
1495Naval Accts. Hen. VII (1896) 226, vijml fote of *Sawborde price the c—ijs.
1778W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric. 9 Dec. 1775 The *saw-carf, instead of binding, is always kept gaping.
1846Holtzapffel Turning, etc. II. 706 The chalk line..marks the edges of the intended *saw-cuts with sufficient certainty.
1874Knight Dict. Mech. s.v. Bookbinding, Sewing [comes] after *saw-cutting the backs for the cords.
1936A. M. Rust Whangarei Early Reminisc. 163 Timber was being got..along its..foreshore. Hundreds of bushmen..were employed besides stackers, *saw doctors, benchmen and mill-hands in the different sawmills. 1949J. L. Carvel One Hundred Years in Timber ix. 140 No sawmill can function long without efficient tool-rooms, and at the City Saw Mills the saw-shop and grinding-shop supply these essentials. These are supervised by the saw-doctor. 1977Belfast Tel. 22 Feb. 22 (Advt.), C.D. Monninger Ltd. require Saw Doctor to take charge of the day-to-day running of their new Belfast Service Centre.
1857Kingsley Two Y. Ago xxi, From the highest *saw-edges, where Moel Meirch cuts the golden sky, down to the very depth of the abyss.
1846L. S. Costello Tour Venice 446 A wall of *saw-edged perpendicular rocks.
1846Holtzapffel Turning, etc. II. 689 The files used in sharpening saws are triangular, round, half-round, and mill *saw-files.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 442 Let a transverse groove..be cut in the *saw-frame to receive that pin.
1801Miller & Whitney in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. & Arts (1832) XXI. 222 The machine for separating cotton from its seeds, commonly called the *Saw Gin.
1873Beeton's Dict. Comm. s.v. Cotton, Good fair to good *saw-ginned Surat cotton.
1822W. H. Simmons Notices E. Florida ii. 24 They were obliged to defend their horses' feet with wrappings of cow-hide, in order to prevent their being injured by the sharp *saw grass. 1847Whittier Drovers 56 Cows..Disputing feebly with the frogs The crop of saw-grass meadows! 1855Ogilvie Suppl., Saw-grass, a kind of coarse grass, bog-rush. 1882‘Ouida’ Maremma I. 187 Thrusting their snouts amidst the saw-grass. 1891H. W. V. Stuart Equat. Forests 110 It turned out to be really a vast expanse of water hidden beneath saw-grass, which in some places attains a height of twenty feet.
1860Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 3), *Saw-gummer, see Gummer.
1837Lever Harry Lorrequer v, My friend there..is a very neat shot when he has the *saw-handle. 1892Daily News 4 Aug. 7/1 The plaintiff..was a saw-handle maker. 1899Ld. Rosebery Peel 26 But scarcely..is there any memory of so peppery a politician with so constant an inclination to the ‘sawhandles’.
1837Lever Harry Lorrequer v, Didn't I tell ye, that pistol always threw high... Oh, Fin, if you had only given me the *saw-handled one.
1862T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Veget. (ed. 3) 45 Serricorn or *saw-horned beetles.
1778W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric. 9 Dec. 1775 The common *saw-horse makes the cutting of it [sc. firewood] a tedious labour-consuming piece of business. 1883Harper's Mag. Mar. 601/2 A hen..came in and settled herself in a corner behind a saw-horse.
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 101/1 Kerf, or *Saw Kerf. 1886Encycl. Brit. XXI. 344/2 Gang-saws are seldom thicker than 14-gauge, and are successfully worked at 18-gauge, making a saw-kerf or waste of but 1/8 inch.
1887Archit. Publ. Soc. Dict. s.v. Saw Curf, Soufflot in 1779 employed workmen to *saw-kerf the joints of the piers..of S. Geneviève... Wood-bending is often facilitated by *saw-kerfing.
1799D. W. Smyth Short Topogr. Descr. Upper Canada 32 The *saw logs are conveyed to this mill in a very remarkable manner. 1842Mrs. Kirkland Forest Life II. 194 We had made perhaps half the distance when we met a prodigious ‘saw-log’—that is, the huge trunk of a tree, drawn by oxen, on its way to the mill. 1916Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 1 July 6/6 The timber returns for the month of May..show that the total scale of sawlogs for the Province amounted to 94,771,871 ft. [etc.]. 1971Timber Trades Jrnl. 14 Aug. 38/1 It is estimated that quantities from British forests should increase significantly in the next decade and with the improving quality of sawlogs home producers can look forward to obtaining an increasing share of consumption of sawnwood.
1615Crooke Body of Man 795 The second muscle is called Serratus maior or the greater *saw-muscle.
1846Holtzapffel Turning, etc. II. 712 The key-hole or fret saw-blade..is held in a *saw-pad.
1797B. Hawkins Let. 18 Feb. in Georgia Hist. Soc. Coll. (1916) IX. 85 The whole country was a pine barron, with wiregrass and *saw palmetto. 1861Amer. Cycl. XII. 704/1 The saw palmetto..occurs on the southern islands of South Carolina, and in sandy soils southward to Florida. 1894B. Torrey Florida Sketch-Bk. 3 The ground [was] covered thickly with saw palmetto. 1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling xxv. 317 The bears were..eating the berries of the saw palmetto. 1942S. Kennedy Palmetto Country 4 Shrub-like saw palmetto underlies the pine flat⁓woods.
1879Navy List Sept. 490/1 On the star to be mounted a dead gilt laurel wreath and *saw pierced garter with regimental motto. 1892Daily News 10 May 2/4 A saw-pierced picture frame.
1902Daily Chron. 15 Oct. 10/7 Art Metal, leaf-beating and *saw-piercing.
1837Lt.-Col. Reid in Civ. Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 6/1 Long iron needles pass through holes in the strips of *saw-plate, and pin them to the ground. Ibid., To retain the front ones in their places, ties are used made of saw-plate iron. 1865I. T. F. Turner Slate Quarries 16 A continuous dropping of water washes particles of flint sand beneath the saw-plate.
1964J. Hillaby Journey to Jade Sea 121 *Saw-scales sound like kettles of boiling water.
1935N. L. Corkill in Sudan Notes & Records XVIII. 245 The Carpet or *Saw-scaled Viper is usually considered to be a form restricted to a sandy habitat. 1966C. Sweeney Scurrying Bush xii. 168 A very violent saw-scaled viper crawled out into the open, hissing and rustling its scales against each other.
1846Holtzapffel Turning, etc. II. 697 The *saw-set..consists of a narrow blade of steel, with notches of various widths for different saws... In some few cases saw-set pliers are used. 1881Young Every Man his own Mech. §345 The teeth can be bent to the right or left, as may be requisite, with the saw-set.
1882J. E. Tenison-Woods Fishes N.S. Wales 98 The *saw-shark must not be confounded with saw-fish. 1906D. G. Stead Fishes Austral. xii. 236 The Little Saw-Shark..is a small species, having a somewhat flattened body, and attaining a length of about 4 feet. 1931J. R. Norman Hist. Fishes iii. 35 In..one of the Saw Sharks..there may be as many as six or seven [gill-clefts]. 1961E. S. Herald Living Fishes of World 49/1 The four known species of saw sharks have small pectoral fins with the gill openings just ahead of these fins.
1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 33 Great Titmouse (Parus major)..*Saw sharpener. 1895P. H. Emerson Birds, etc. Norfolk Broadland 63 They [sc. great titmice] are sometimes called ‘saw-sharpeners’ in the building season, from the well-known and peculiar grating noise made by the cock. 1905Daily Chron. 22 Mar. 8/7 Wood Turner, Fret Cutter and Saw Sharpener.
1819Rees' Cycl. XXI. 5 D/1 Circular *saw-spindles are frequently burnt..their motion being very quick. 1846Holtzapffel Turning, etc. II. 754 The saw spindle is frequently squared at one end.
1522MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., For drawyng out of ij battis to y⊇ *sawstage.
1932Sun (Baltimore) 17 Sept. 4/6 The cutting is always done selectively, large trees being taken for *saw timber for new buildings and repairs, and weed trees and defective trees for fuel. 1979Sci. Amer. Feb. 65/3 In the Western national forests, which constitute..50 percent of the nation's entire supply of standing saw-timber.
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 220 If planks are sawed longitudinally, through their thickness, the *saw-way is called a ripping-cut.
1834J. J. Audubon Ornith. Biogr. II. 567 The Little Owl is known in Massachusetts by the name of the ‘*Saw-whet’, the sound of its love-notes bearing a great resemblance to the noise produced by filing the teeth of a large saw. 1839Audubon Synopsis Birds Amer. 24 Ulula Acadica,..Acadian Night-Owl... Saw-whet. 1872Coues Key N. Amer. Birds 206 Nyctale acadica... Acadian Owl. Saw-whet Owl. 1894Outing XXIII. 406/1 The little ‘saw whet’ under his tiny glass globe. 1949Amer. Forests Oct. 23/1 The saw-whet owl has a peculiar voice. 1959W. R. Bird These are Maritimes vi. 183 Now I rather like the little fellows [sc. owls], especially the saw-whets. 1977New Yorker 5 Sept. 24/1 Saw-whet owls and long-eared owls roost in evergreens in winter.
1784J. Belknap Tour to White Mts. (1876) 10 The Dr. saw a blue bird, with a white head, which is said to be a *saw-whetter. 1840Gosse Canadian Nat. 92 The sound..is usually thought to resemble the whetting of a saw, and hence the bird from which it proceeds is called the Saw-whetter. 1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 33 Marsh Titmouse (Parus palustris)..Saw whetter.
1728Chambers Cycl., Redens,..or Redan, in Fortification, a Kind of Work indented in Form of the Teeth of a Saw... It is also call'd *Saw-work.
1868Paxton Bot. Dict., *Saw-wrack.
1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. v. 94 Then with the *Saw wrest..they set the Teeth of the Saw. 1728–52Chambers Cycl. s.v. Saw, This is done by putting an Instrument, called a Saw-wrist, between every other two Teeth, and giving it a little Wrench. 1841Penny Cycl. XX. 477/1 A saw-wrest is used for setting the teeth.
▪ II. saw, n.2|sɔː|
Forms: 1 saᵹu (saᵹe), ? saᵹa, 2–5 saȝe, 3 sæȝe, sahe, 3–7 sawe, 4 sa, sach(e, sau(e, sauue, sawȝe, 4–5 sagh(e, 4– saw. pl. 3 sæȝen, sahen, sawen, 4 saȝez, sauez, sawus, 5 Sc. sawiss.
[OE. saᵹu str. fem. = MLG., MDu. sage, zage, OHG. saga str. and wk. fem. (MHG., mod.G. sage), ON. saga wk. fem. (see saga):—OTeut. *sagā, *sagōn-, f. root of *sagǣjan say v.1 Cf. Lith. pa-saka (:—sokā) story.]
†1. A saying; discourse; speech. Obs.
9.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 221/28 Dictu i. dicione, saᵹu, uel oratione. c1000ælfric Gloss. ibid. 165/27 Elogium, uel dictio, saᵹa. c1000Ags. Gosp., Luke xi. 45 Lareow teonan þu wyrhcst us mid þisse saᵹe. c1175Lamb. Hom. 133 Ðeo apostles hine beden þet he scalde suggen hwet þeo saȝe bicweðe and he seide Semen est uerbum dei. c1205Lay. 749 Heo wenden þat his sawen [c 1275 sawes] soðe weren. Ibid. 29658 Þa he isaid hauede þa sæȝen of ure drihten. c1220Bestiary 600 He sweren bi ðe rode..and he ðe leȝen sone, mid here saȝe and mid here song. a1225Ancr. R. 360 Þis is Seinte Poules sawe. a1225Leg. Kath. 358 Alle ich iseo þine sahen sotliche isette. a1300Cursor M. 4167 And þan wil naman mak on sau Þat we him suld haue broght on dau. Ibid. 24112 Luue wald i spak, might me wit-stode, Mi reut was all apon þat rode, Na sagh [Edin. MS. sache] þar moght i sai. 1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 3557 He was wunt to seye wykked sawes. c1350Will. Palerne 1112 Alle seide at o sawe ‘sire, we ȝou rede’. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 109 Thenne þe sergauntez, at þat sawe, swengen þer-oute. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xv. (Barnabas) 84 Quhen þe paianis hard þis sa, þai sad [etc.]. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 668 Ful litel woot Arcite of his felawe That was so ny to herknen al his sawe. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 383 Hit is comoun sawe þat [þe] contray þat now hatte Scotlond is an out strecching, and is þe norþ partie of þe more Bretayne. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 1501 Bot ay boisil dedis and sawes he folowed. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 106, I will nocht that men understand be my sawis na the King of Jerusalem has gude rycht. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. 78 Thus we se howe and in what maner pleasaunt sawes are gathered and used, upon the occasion of divers wordes spoken. a1586Satir. Poems Reform. xxxvii. 12 Thair sawis to be suythe sum will suspect. 1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 100 The counsell and sawe of old men hath in it somewhat..that is pleasing to heare, gracefull, and of venerable regard.
†2. A story, tale, recital. Obs.
c1320Cast. Love 619 Such wonder nas neuer I-herd in sawe. 1338R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 205 Þis þat I haf said it is Pers sawe, Als he in romance laid, þer after gan I drawe. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paulus) 53 Aymo recordis In his saw, þat [etc.]. c1400St. Alexius 393 (Laud MS.) His moder ne miȝth lete sorouȝ, Neiþer at euene ne at morowe, In sawȝe as it is seide. c1460Emare 319 As y haue herd menstrelles syng yn sawe.
†3. A decree, command. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 8333 Of his sauues þis was an, þat of his barnage sa bald was nan,..in his chamber..A fote to set, bot þai war cald. 1338R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 250 What for þe kynges sawe, & skille þei vnderstode, & þorgh þe londes lawe, & descent of blod, þe triours alle þat caste, & put þer saw tille on. 14..26 Pol. Poems 23 That leueþ trouþe, and falshed vse, And lyue not after goddis sawe. c1440York Myst. xlviii. 211 A! myghtfull god, here is it sene, Þou will fulfille þi forward right, And all þi sawes þou will maynteyne. 1566Sternhold & H. Ps. cxix. 97 What great desire and feruent loue, do I beare to thy saw: All the day long my whole deuise, is onely on thy law. 1595Spenser Col. Clout 884 So love is Lord of all the world by right, And rules the creatures by his powrfull saw.
4. A sententious saying; a traditional maxim, a proverb. For (old) said saw see said ppl. a.
a1275Prov. ælfred 35 (Trin. Coll. MS.) Þis werin þe sawen of kinc Alfred. Ibid. 361 Þurch saȝe mon is wis. c1320R. Brunne Medit. 853 Of salamons sawys ȝe are nat auysed. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. viii. 124 ‘Lewede lorel!’ quod he ‘luite lokestou on þe Bible, On Salamones sawes seldom þou bi-holdest’. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1599 His sawle is ful of syence, saȝes to schawe. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints vii. (Jacobus Minor) 653 Fore It is sad in elderys saw: ‘ful harde is hungyre in hale maw.’ c1440Promp. Parv. 441/2 Sawe, or proverbe, proverbium, problema. 1470–85Malory Arthur x. lxi. 519 Euer hit is an old sawe gyue a chorle rule and there by he wylle not be suffysed. 1530Palsgr. 265/1 Sawe a proverbe, prouerbe. 1563B. Googe Eglogs i. (Arb.) 31 And many a saged sawe lies hyd within thine aged brest. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 156 Full of wise sawes, and moderne instances. 1632E. Robertson in Lithgow's Trav. To Author B 4, How ruld with Lawes The South world is: their Rites, Religious sawes. c1705Pope Jan. & May 219 We, Sirs, are fools; and must resign the cause To heath'nish authors, proverbs, and old saws. 1764Oxf. Sausage 172 Alone from Jargon born to rescue Law, From Precedent, grave Hum, and formal Saw! 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. x. II. 635 The great question now depending was not to be decided by the saws of pedantic Templars. 1861F. Nightingale Nursing (ed. 2) 50 It is an ever ready saw that an egg is equivalent to a lb. of meat; whereas it is not at all so. 1884Tennyson Becket v. ii, For I was musing on an ancient saw, Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re.
▪ III. saw, v.1|sɔː|
Pa. tense sawed; pa. pple. sawed, sawn. Forms: 4 sagh, sau, 5 saghe, saȝe, 5–6 sawe. pa. tense. α. weak 3 sahede, 5 sawede, 5– sawed; β. strong 5 suwe, sew. pa. pple. α. weak 3 isahet, 4 i-sawed, saede, sawid, 6 saw'de, sawyde, 7– sawed; β. strong 5–7 sawen, 5 sowen, 6 sawin, 9 sawn.
[f. saw n.1; cf. the equivalent MLG., MDu. sagen (Du. zagen), OHG. sagôn, segôn (MHG. sagen, segen, mod.G. sägen), ON. saga (Sw. såga, Da. save).
The pa. tense was sometimes conjugated strong in the 15th c. The strong pa. pple., which came into use at the same time, is now perh. equally current with the weak form in the compound tenses of the vb., and as ppl. adj. is much more common.]
1. a. trans. To cut with a saw. Also with advs., asunder, away, off, through; and const. into.
a1225Life St. Juliana 38 Ich makede þen wittie ysaye beon isahet þurh and þurh to deaðe. a1300Cursor M. 27375 Þe preist bi-gin..Away to sagh þam ilk crote. c1400Wyclifite Bible Prol. to Prophets (1850) III. 225 Manasses ordeynede and demyde Isaye to be sawid with ynne a cedre tree. c1400Melayne 60 His wyffe & his childire three Byfore his eghne þat he myghte see Be in sondre sawenn. c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. cxlviii. (1869) 135 In Iacob and Esau þou hast seyn þe figure; I sawede hem and vnioyned hem. c1450Mirour Saluacioun (1888) 10 Some with sawes he suwe. 1483Cath. Angl. 319/2 To saghe a tre, serrare. 1483Caxton Golden Leg. 248/2 She..was taken of the deuyls and departed and sowen a sondre. 1496Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. I. 281 Item, to othir tua sawaris, at sew with thaim, xvij s. viij d. 1538Elyot Dict., Runcino, to sawe tymber. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 42 Now sawe out thy timber, for boord and for pale. 1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. To Rdr. *v b, Their legges sawed of, their tongues cutte. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. i. 70 If I were saw'de into Quantities, I should make foure dozen of such bearded Hermites staues, as Master Shallow. 1611Bible 1 Kings vii. 9 Hewed stones, sawed with sawes. ― Heb. xi. 37 They were stoned, they were sawen asunder. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. i. 107 By sawing away of trees. 1664J. Wilson A. Commenius v. i, 'Twere better dye at once, Than be thus saw'd in pieces. 1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. v. 95 When they direct any of their Underlins to saw such a piece of Stuff..seldom say Saw that piece of Stuff. 1719J. Conduit in Phil. Trans. XXX. 917 The Letters probably were either sawed off, or turned inwards. 1795J. Holt Agric. Surv. Lancaster 48 He takes a hand-saw..and saws the top level. 1847Act 10 & 11 Vict. c. 89 §28 Every Person who..hews, saws, bores, or cuts any Timber or Stone. 1876Encycl. Brit. IV. 43/1 (Bookbinding) The volumes are then adjusted and clamped up..for the operation of sawing the back. Two or three grooves are..sawn straight across the back of the volume, according to the number of bands on which the book is to be sewed. 1879Froude Cæsar xxii. 368 Trees were cut down and sawn into planks. 1886Encycl. Brit. XXI. 344/1 With a cutting edge of so light a gauge as to waste but little of the valuable timber to be sawed.
fig.1579G. Harvey in Three Proper Lett. (1580) 63 The sixte..is also in the same Predicament, vnlesse happly one of the feete be sawed off wyth a payre of Syncopes. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 316 Until between these different Usurpations, that pull several ways, the whole Nation will in the end be sawed in Pieces. 1879Farrar St. Paul (1883) 119 The agony of hatred which was sawing their hearts asunder.
b. To cut as a saw does. Also absol. or intr.
a1225St. Marher. (1862) 22 Ant let scharpe sweord ant eke smart scher hire bi the schuldren ant sahede hire thurhut. a1325Prose Psalter (E.E.T.S.) li[i]. 2 Þou dost treccherie as a rasour sharp sauaand. 1664Hubert Catal. Rarities (1665) 31 A tayl of a Stingray, it will saw like an Iron saw.
transf.1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. xii, The grating wind sawed rather than blew.
c. To form by cutting with a saw.
1530Palsgr. 698/2 Have you sawed nothyng but these two plankes to daye. 1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. v. 87 When you Saw the Bevelling angles upon the square ends of Pieces. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Character Wks. (Bohn) II. 59 They saw a hole into the head of the ‘winking Virgin’ to know why she winks. 1875Seaton Fret Cutting 15 To most people, this method of sawing out a pattern is inconvenient.
transf.1871Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) I. ix. 289 This wonderful fissure has been sawn through the mountain by the waters of the Tamina. 1906Belloc Hills & Sea 17 All the way down the gorge for miles, sawing its cut in sheer surfaces through the rock, crashes a violent stream.
d. absol. To use a saw; to cut with a saw.
c1340Nominale (Skeat) 116 M. cleuyth the borde and sawith. 1465Maun. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 309 My mastyr made comenaunt wyth ij. sawers of Donwyche: and thei schalle haue euery werke day that thei saw, vj. d. 1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. v. 83 You must not Saw just upon the struck line,..Saw therefore right down with the Tennant Saw. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables cxiii. 106 Then, 'tis Call the Doctor, Pothecary, Surgeon; Purge, Flux, Launce, Burn, Saw. 1852Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 184 Carpenters, into whose head the devil put it to saw the whole day.
e. intr. with passive force. To admit of being sawn.
1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 27/1 Beech..will saw into extreme thin Planks. Ibid. 57/1 A white sort of Stone..which Saws easier than Wood itself.
2. transf. With reference to the movement used in sawing.
a. trans. Phr. to saw the air: to gesticulate with the hands as if sawing something invisible. Also to saw one's hand.
1602Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 5 Do not saw the Ayre too much your hand thus, but vse all gently. 1819Crabbe Tales of Hall xix. 158 ‘And what is proud’, said Frances, ‘but to stand Singing at church, and sawing thus your hand?’ 1824S. E. Ferrier Inher. lxix, He was puffing, and blowing, and sawing the air with his arms, without ever gaining a single step upon them. 1884Sat. Rev. 14 June 778/1 With her right hand she ceaselessly saws the air.
b. To work (the bit) from side to side in a horse's mouth. Also with the mouth as obj.
1850Smedley Frank Fairlegh v, I..got her head up by sawing her mouth with the snaffle, and put her [the mare] fairly at it. 1856‘Stonehenge’ Rural Sports 536 If a horse obstinately refuses to stir, the bit may be gently ‘sawed’ from side to side.
c. intr. Said of one playing a stringed instrument with a bow.
1736Gentl. Mag. VI. 615/1 Then saw'd and thrumm'd on ev'ry string! 1977J. Crosby Company of Friends v. 36 Czernowski sawed away at Mozart.
d. trans. Phr. to saw wood, to attend to one's own affairs; to continue working steadily. U.S. colloq.
1894Congress. Rec. 24 Jan. 1347/2 Is it possible that the framers of the bill hold a grudge against the voters who ‘sawed wood’ last November? 1909‘O. Henry’ Options 75 During all these wintry apostrophes, Barbara, cold at heart, sawed wood—the only appropriate thing she could think of to do. 1913F. H. Burnett T. Tembarom xxix. 359 Say nothing and saw wood... It means ‘shut your mouth and keep on working’. 1933J. Buchan Prince of Captivity iii. i. 264 He sees the next job and sits down to it—stays still and saws wood, as Lincoln said.
e. Phr. to saw a chunk (length, piece) off, to copulate. slang.
1961Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1259/2 Saw off a chunk or a piece, to coït: Canadian: since ca. 1920. 1977J. Wainwright Do Nothin' v. 86 The act is..known, in polite circles, as ‘copulation’. Known, in less polite circles, as..‘sawing a length off’.
3. transf. With reference to the sound made by sawing; to saw gourds, etc., to snore loudly. slang (orig. U.S.).
1870F. H. Ludlow Heart of Continent ii. 91 In five minutes..we were all ‘sawing gourds’ together in the land of Nod. a1897‘R. Sanders’ Sk. Country Life (1898) xxx. 188 When the day's work is done..he can draw his bobtail night shirt about him..knowin that while he sleeps and dreams and saws gourds his worldly possessions are growin. 1939J. Worby Spiv's Progress ii. 12 I've been in the town and got the grub while you've been sawing them off. 1946Penguin New Writing XXVIII. 184 The deaf-mute was asleep and sawing them off horribly. 1961Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1259/2 Saw them off, to snore; to sleep soundly... Ex the noise made with a saw clumsily handled. 1980A. Fox Kingfisher Scream iii. 49 Rosemary would be asleep too now, with Don sawing wood beside her.
4. intr. (See quot.) ? Obs.
1630in Binnell Descr. Thames (1758) 68 No Fisherman..shall..saw or search for Barbel within the Limits of London Bridge.
5. trans. To give a serrated outline to. rare—1.
1780A. Young Tour Irel. I. 242 The coast is perfectly sawed by bays.
▪ IV. † saw, v.2 Obs. (? nonce-wd.)
[f. saw n.2]
intr. To speak in saws.
1648W. Jenkyn Blind Guide i. 13 He saith, or rather saweth thus,..The time will come that youthfull Turnus shall Wish dearly Pallas ne'er has been encountred.
▪ V. saw
obs. form of save v., show v., sow v. |