sawman

English

Etymology

saw + man

Noun

sawman (plural sawmen)

  1. A man who operates a saw, especially to cut timber.
    • 1924, Mark Van Doren, “Javelins”, in Collected Poems, 1922-1938, New York: Henry Holt, pages 18–19:
      [] In the very furthest part
      A clearing, lately cut, circled a sawmill,
      A little shack that buzzed until it shook,
      And breathed rankly of elm. I walked around;
      The other side was open, whence I watched
      The fat back of the sawman as he fed.
    • 1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 1, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 4:
      Early in the century, Momma [] sold lunches to the sawmen in the lumberyard [] and the seedmen at the cotton gin []
    • 1988, Charlie Smith, chapter 7, in Shine Hawk, New York: Pocket Books, page 219:
      A good sawman can take out eight cords a day, but Frank, driven by the knot of Jackson anger and wildness that drove all his people, could do more.

Synonyms

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