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Saw   /sɔ/   Listen
verb
Saw  v. t.  (past sawed; past part. sawn; pres. part. sawing)  
1.
To cut with a saw; to separate with a saw; as, to saw timber or marble.
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.
3.
Also used figuratively; as, to saw the air.



See  v. t.  (past saw; past part. seen; pres. part. seeing)  
1.
To perceive by the eye; to have knowledge of the existence and apparent qualities of by the organs of sight; to behold; to descry; to view. "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight."
2.
To perceive by mental vision; to form an idea or conception of; to note with the mind; to observe; to discern; to distinguish; to understand; to comprehend; to ascertain. "Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren." "Jesus saw that he answered discreetly." "Who's so gross That seeth not this palpable device?"
3.
To follow with the eyes, or as with the eyes; to watch; to regard attentively; to look after. "I had a mind to see him out, and therefore did not care for contradicting him."
4.
To have an interview with; especially, to make a call upon; to visit; as, to go to see a friend. "And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death."
5.
To fall in with; to meet or associate with; to have intercourse or communication with; hence, to have knowledge or experience of; as, to see military service. "Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil." "Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." "Improvement in wisdom and prudence by seeing men."
6.
To accompany in person; to escort; to wait upon; as, to see one home; to see one aboard the cars.
7.
In poker and similar games at cards, to meet (a bet), or to equal the bet of (a player), by staking the same sum. "I'll see you and raise you ten."
God you see (or God him see or God me see, etc.), God keep you (him, me, etc.) in his sight; God protect you. (Obs.)
To see (anything) out, to see (it) to the end; to be present at, work at, or attend, to the end.
To see stars, to see flashes of light, like stars; sometimes the result of concussion of the head. (Colloq.)
To see (one) through, to help, watch, or guard (one) to the end of a course or an undertaking.



Saw  v. i.  (past sawed; past part. sawn; pres. part. sawing)  
1.
To use a saw; to practice sawing; as, a man saws well.
2.
To cut, as a saw; as, the saw or mill saws fast.
3.
To be cut with a saw; as, the timber saws smoothly.



See  v. i.  (past saw; past part. seen; pres. part. seeing)  
1.
To have the power of sight, or of perceiving by the proper organs; to possess or employ the sense of vision; as, he sees distinctly. "Whereas I was blind, now I see."
2.
Figuratively: To have intellectual apprehension; to perceive; to know; to understand; to discern; often followed by a preposition, as through, or into. "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." "Many sagacious persons will find us out,... and see through all our fine pretensions."
3.
To be attentive; to take care; to give heed; generally with to; as, to see to the house. "See that ye fall not out by the way." Note: Let me see, Let us see, are used to express consideration, or to introduce the particular consideration of a subject, or some scheme or calculation. "Cassio's a proper man, let me see now, - To get his place." Note: See is sometimes used in the imperative for look, or behold. "See. see! upon the banks of Boyne he stands."
To see about a thing, to pay attention to it; to consider it.
To see on, to look at. (Obs.) "She was full more blissful on to see."
To see to.
(a)
To look at; to behold; to view. (Obs.) "An altar by Jordan, a great altar to see to"
(b)
To take care about; to look after; as, to see to a fire.



Saw  v.  Imp. of See.



noun
Saw  n.  
1.
Something said; speech; discourse. (Obs.) "To hearken all his sawe."
2.
A saying; a proverb; a maxim. "His champions are the prophets and apostles, His weapons holy saws of sacred writ."
3.
Dictate; command; decree. (Obs.) "(Love) rules the creatures by his powerful saw."



Saw  n.  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. Note: Saw is frequently used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound.
Band saw, Crosscut saw, etc. See under 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 fibers 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.
Saw grass (Bot.), any one of certain cyperaceous plants having the edges of the leaves set with minute sharp teeth, especially the Cladium Mariscus of Europe, and the Cladium effusum of the Southern United States. Cf. Razor grass, under Razor.
Saw log, a log of suitable size for sawing into lumber.
Saw mandrel, a mandrel on which a circular saw is fastened for running.
Saw pit, a pit over which timbor is sawed by two men, one standing below the timber and the other above.
Saw sharpener (Zool.), the great titmouse; so named from its harsh call note. (Prov. Eng.)
Saw whetter (Zool.), the marsh titmouse (Parus palustris); so named from its call note. (Prov. Eng.)
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.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Saw" Quotes from Famous Books



... undeceived. He saw with a vision rendered doubly acute by perfect sympathy. He read through every smile to the tears lying behind it. He noted the change in the tone of the laugh. He missed nothing of the painful abstraction ...
— The Forfeit • Ridgwell Cullum

... Lardner led me to look through the famous fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of Gibbon. I could not lay them down without finishing them. The causes assigned, in the fifteenth chapter, for the diffusion of Christianity, must, no doubt, have contributed to it materially; but I doubt whether he saw them all. Perhaps those which he enumerates are among the most obvious. They might all be safely adopted by a Christian writer, with some change in the language and manner. Mackintosh see Life, i. ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 1 • Edward Gibbon

... Jeune makes reservations similar to those which I have had to notice in other applications, as to Fitzjames's want of the subtlety and closeness of reasoning characteristic of the greatest lawyers. He saw things 'rather broadly,' and his literary habits tended to distract him from the precise legal point. 'I always thought of his mind,' says Sir Francis, 'as of a very powerful telescope pulled out just a little too much.' The sharp definitions, perceptible sometimes to inferior minds, were ...
— The Life of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, Bart., K.C.S.I. - A Judge of the High Court of Justice • Sir Leslie Stephen

... found in him that he knew the worth of love, that he saw the horror of the void in which he lived, and that for a moment—though too late—a sudden wave of not ignoble passion overwhelmed his baser self, even if only to let the fangs of the treacherous rock reappear in their starkness ...
— Robert Browning • Edward Dowden

... proper sense as upon the files of the Department, but as deposited there for my convenience, remaining still completely under my control. I suppose if I desired to take them into my custody I might do so with entire propriety, and if I saw fit to destroy them ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 3 (of 3) of Volume 8: Grover Cleveland, First Term. • Grover Cleveland


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