saw

Less common meanings

4. 4
   noticedverbnonstandard

   Past participle of see. Nonstandard; the standard form is seen.

   We've saw enough trouble to know better by now.

   She had saw him around the neighborhood before.

   UsageIn careful speech and in writing, use seen after have: I've seen it.

   Note

   It shows up in speech set down as it was heard, from K.C. Carceral's Prison, Inc (2005) to Frances O'Roark Dowell's Anybody Shining (2014). Writers use it in dialogue to give a speaker a voice.

5. 5
   back and forthverbintransitive

   To make a back-and-forth motion like that of cutting something with a saw.

   The violinists saw away at their strings during the frantic finale.

   She sawed at the air with her arms to keep her balance.

   UsageTakes at or on, often with away: saw away at the strings.

   Similarscrape

   Note

   Fiddlers are the classic subject. In James Hogg's The Story of Euphemia Hewit (1835), a man "sawed a good deal on the fiddle", with the bow working like a blade across the strings. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • James Hogg wrote The Story of Euphemia Hewit, which contains the quoted description of a man playing the fiddle. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   musical bladenouncountable

   A flexible metal blade, often a hand saw, played as an instrument by bowing its smooth edge to produce sliding, eerie tones.

   A lone musician swayed as the saw moaned through the quiet theater.

   He tuned the pitch of the saw by changing how sharply he bent it.

7. 7
   wise sayingnoun

   A traditional saying or proverb, especially a well-worn and familiar one.

   It's an old saw that money can't buy happiness, but a raise certainly helped.

   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.

   c. 1598, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”

   UsageMostly in an old saw, a familiar and sometimes tired saying. On its own it sounds old-fashioned.

   Similarsaying, proverb, adage, maxim, dictum

   Note

   The one speech sense still in use, and it survives mainly in the phrase old saw. The New Yorker in 2017 introduces "an old saw about Washington, D.C." Shakespeare's justice in As You Like It is "full of wise saws and modern instances". Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The New Yorker used the quoted phrase in 2017. newyorker.com
   • Shakespeare's As You Like It describes the justice with these exact words; Jaques speaks the description. folger.edu
8. 8
   nounobsolete

   Something said; speech or discourse in general.

   Note

   The second, unrelated word starts here. In Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur, a knight is promised reward for his "trew sawys", his true words, which a modern rendering gives as "discourses". Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Thomas Malory wrote Le Morte Darthur. gutenberg.org
   • The wording 'trew sawys' is attributed to Malory's work. en.wiktionary.org
   • A modern rendering translates sawys as 'discourses'. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   nounobsolete

   An opinion, idea, or belief held by a person.

   Note

   An obsolete sense that lived mostly in short set phrases: by thy saw, commune saw (the common view), on no saw. Readers meet it only in older texts. There it is easily mistaken for the "proverb" meaning, but it names what a person thinks, not what people say. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The opinion sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
   • The listed expressions are attested examples, and commune saw means the common view. en.wiktionary.org
   • The opinion sense is distinct from the proverb sense. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    nounobsolete

    A proposal or suggestion; a possibility put forward for consideration.

    Note

    Typically something laid before a group for its agreement. In the Middle English romance The Erl of Toulous, "All they assentyd to the sawe", because they thought the speaker talked reason and law. The word names an idea put forward, whether or not it is then accepted. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The Erl of Toulous is a Middle English romance. en.wikipedia.org
    • The quotation occurs in the romance, and the narrator explains the group's assent by saying that they thought the speaker spoke reason and law. metseditions.org
11. 11
    nounobsolete

    A dictate, command, or decree issued by one in authority.

    [Love] rules the creatures by his powerful saw.

    1595, “Colin Clouts Come Home Againe”, in Colin Clouts Come Home Againe

    Note

    Speech with force behind it: the word of someone who can compel obedience. In Edmund Spenser's Colin Clouts Come Home Againe (1595), Love "rules their creatures by his powrfull saw". Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Saw had the sense of an authoritative command or decree. en.wiktionary.org
    • Edmund Spenser wrote Colin Clouts Come Home Againe. darkwing.uoregon.edu
    • The poem was first published in 1595. en.wikipedia.org
12. 12
    noun

    A waveform that rises steadily to a peak and then drops sharply, repeating in a sawtooth pattern.
13. 13
    noun

    In whist and similar games, a crossruff: two partners take turns leading each other a suit the other holds none of, so that every such lead is trumped.