seesaw

• see-saw

Probably a frequentative imitative of rhythmic back-and-forth, up-and-down or zigzagging motion, such as teeter-totter, zigzag, flip-flop, ping pong, etc., under the umbrella term of reduplication; also likely influenced by the verbs see and saw of either present or past tense.

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sô, IPA^(key): /ˈsiː.sɔː/
  • Rhymes: -iːsɔ
• (US) enPR: sô, IPA^(key): /ˈsi.sɔ/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: sä, IPA^(key): /ˈsiː.sɑː/

  • Audio (US)

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  • Rhymes: -iːsɑ

seesaw (plural seesaws)

1. A structure composed of a plank, balanced in the middle, used as a game in which one person goes up as the other goes down.

   Synonym: teeter-totter

2. A series of up-and-down movements.
3. A series of alternating movements or feelings.
   • 1859–1860, William Hamilton, edited by H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

     He has been arguing in a circle; there is thus a see-saw between the hypothesis and the fact.

   • 2011 November 5, Phil Dawkes, “QPR 2 - 3 Man City”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Manchester Citykept up their unbeaten start to the Premier League season with victory over QPR in an entertaining see-saw encounter at Loftus Road.

4. (medicine, attributively) An abnormal breathing pattern caused by airway obstruction, characterized by paradoxical chest and abdominal movement.

seesaw (third-person singular simple present seesaws, present participle seesawing, simple past and past participle seesawed)

1. (intransitive) To use a seesaw.
2. (intransitive, by extension) To fluctuate.
   • 1971, “All I Want”, in Blue, performed by Joni Mitchell:

     When I think of your kisses / My mind see-saws

3. (transitive) To cause to move backward and forward in seesaw fashion.
   • 1832, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Eugene Aram:

     He see-saws himself to and fro.

seesaw (comparative more seesaw, superlative most seesaw)

1. fluctuating.

• Weases