handsaw

American

[hand-saw] / ˈhændˌsɔ /

noun

any common saw see with a handle at one end for manual operation with one hand.

handsaw British

/ ˈhændˌsɔː /

noun

any saw for use in one hand only

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of handsaw

late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; hand, saw ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

With each turn opens a new phase of logging history: clear-cut, saplings, and stumps maybe as big as a Smart Car with chewed edges from a handsaw.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 23, 2023

Back at Linden Hill on Friday, the Donovans used a handsaw to cut down their tree, getting the pines at the bottom cut so it would stand up easily.

From Washington Post • Nov. 26, 2021

Wielding a folding handsaw, 75-year-old Bob Smith clambered through tangled undergrowth to prune trees bearing bright red beans.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2021

You know, one of the images I found, actually, in early South Carolina was a white guy and a black guy working on opposite ends of the same handsaw, you know.

From Slate • May 18, 2015

Its low density makes it easy to shape, whether with a chisel, a plane, or a handsaw.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023