| saw | 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. Saw is frequently used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound. Band saw, Crosscut saw, etc. See Band, Crosscut, etc. Circular saw, a disk of steel with saw teeth upon its periphery, and revolved on an arbor. Saw bench, a bench or table with a flat top for for sawing, especially with a circular saw which projects above the table. Saw file, a three-cornered file, such as is used for sharpening saw teeth. Saw frame, the frame or sash in a sawmill, in which the saw, or gang of saws, is held. Saw gate, a saw frame. Saw gin, the form of cotton gin invented by Eli Whitney, in which the cotton fibres are drawn, by the teeth, of a set of revolving circular saws, through a wire grating which is too fine for the seeds to pass. <botany> Saw grass, the marsh titmouse (Parus palustris); so named from its call note. Scroll saw, a ribbon of steel with saw teeth upon one edge, stretched in a frame and adapted for sawing curved outlines; also, a machine in which such a saw is worked by foot or power. Origin: OE. Sawe, AS. Sage; akin to D. Zaag, G. Sage, OHG. Sega, saga, Dan. Sav, sw. Sag, Icel. Sog, L. Secare to cut, securis ax, secula sickle. Cf. Scythe, Sickle, Section, Sedge. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| saw-whet | <zoology> A small North American owl (Nyctale Acadica), destitute of ear tufts and having feathered toes. Synonym: Acadian owl. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| saw-wort | <botany> Any plant of the composite genus Serratula; so named from the serrated leaves of most of the species. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sawbuck | A sawhorse. 2. A ten-dollar bill [Colloq, from the Roman X for ten] double sawbuck, a twenty-dollar bill Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sawdust | Dust or small fragments of wood 9or of stone, etc) made by the cutting of a saw. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sawfish | <zoology> Any one of several species of elasmobranch fishes of the genus Pristis. They have a sharklike form, but are more nearly allied to the rays. The flattened and much elongated snout has a row of stout toothlike structures inserted along each edge, forming a sawlike organ with which it mutilates or kills its prey. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sawfly | <zoology> Any one of numerous species of hymenopterous insects belonging to the family Tenthredinidae. The female usually has an ovipositor containing a pair of sawlike organs with which she makes incisions in the leaves or stems of plants in which to lay the eggs. The larvae resemble those of Lepidoptera. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sawhorse | A kind of rack, shaped like a double St. Andrew's cross, on which sticks of wood are laid for sawing by hand. Synonym: buck, and sawbuck. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sawlog | A log meeting minimum commercial requirements of diameter, length, and defect. The usual commercial requirements are a minimum of 8' long with an inside bark diameter of 6" for softwoods and 8" for hardwoods. (05 Dec 1998) |
| sawtimber | Live trees of commercial species containing at least one 12' sawlog or two noncontiguous 8' logs. Softwoods must be at least 9" in diameter and hardwoods at least 11" in diameter. (05 Dec 1998) |
| sawtooth | <radiobiology> When a tokamak runs with enough current to achieve q < 1 on the magnetic axis, the plasma parameters (n, T, B) oscillate with a sawtooth waveform. The oscillation is localised to a region roughly within the q=1 surface, and arises from internal magnetohydrodynamic effects. Confinement is degraded within the sawtooth region. (09 Oct 1997) |
| sawyer | 1. One whose occupation is to saw timber into planks or boards, or to saw wood for fuel; a sawer. 2. A tree which has fallen into a stream so that its branches project above the surface, rising and falling with a rocking or swaying motion in the current. 3. <zoology> The bowfin. Origin: Saw + -yer, as in lawyer. Cf. Sawer. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Gigli's saw | A hand-held wire saw for use in craniotomy or pubiotomy. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| Stryker saw | A rapidly oscillating saw used for cutting bone or plaster casts; it cuts hard matter, but soft tissues give and thus are not injured. (05 Mar 2000) |