saw
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: sô
ipa: /sɔː/
enpr: sô
ipa: /sɔ/
note: intrusive R, New England
ipa: [sɔɹ]
enpr: sä
ipa: /sɑ/
note: rare, idiosyncratic, past tense of see (for example, as used by Dina Cappiello of the Associated Press)
ipa: /sɑl/
rhymes: -ɔː
homophone: soar
homophone: sore (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)
Forms: form: saws
Etymology: From Middle English sawe, from Old English sagu, saga (“story, tale, saying, statement, report, narrative, tradition”), from Proto-West Germanic *sagā, from Proto-Germanic *sagō, *sagǭ (“saying, story”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷe-, *skʷē-, from *sekʷ- (“to say”).
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. Doublet of saga.
Senses: examples: text: 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[…].
ref: 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book V, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:
glosses: Something spoken; speech, discourse.
examples: text: old saw
text: 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.
ref: c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii], lines 152-5:
text: At his crowning[…] the priest in his honour preached on the saw, 'Vox populi, vox Dei.'
ref: 1902, Charles Robert Ashbee, Masque of the Edwards of England, page 8:
text: 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.
synonyms: word: byword
word: saying
word: adage
word: saw
word: proverb
word: maxim
word: apothegm
word: apophthegm
word: dictum
word: gnome
word: gnomic saying
word: mantra
word: paroemia
glosses: A saying or proverb.
examples: text: by thy saw
translation: in your opinion
english: in your opinion
text: commune saw
translation: common opinion/knowledge
english: common opinion/knowledge
text: on no saw
translation: by no means
english: by no means
glosses: Opinion, idea, belief.
examples: c. 1350-1400, unknown, The Erl of Toulous
All they assentyd to the sawe; They thoght he spake reson and lawe.
glosses: Proposal, suggestion; possibility.
examples: text: [Love] rules the creatures by his powerful saw.
ref: 1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “Colin Clouts Come Home Againe”, in Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
glosses: Dictate; command; decree.
Derived terms: soothsaw
withsaw