Sawyer

//ˈsɔːjə// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who saws timber, especially in a sawpit.
  2. 2
    any of several beetles whose larvae bore holes in dead or dying trees especially conifers wordnet
  3. 3
    A large trunk of a tree brought down by the force of a river's current. US

    "‘A’most used-up I am, I do declare!’ she observed. ‘The jolting in the cars is pretty nigh as bad as if the rail was full of snags and sawyers.’"

  4. 4
    one who is employed to saw wood wordnet
  5. 5
    A beetle, mostly in the genus Monochamus, that lives and feeds on trees, including timber.
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  1. 6
    The bowfin. US, dialectal
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname originating as an occupation for someone who made a living from sawing wood. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    A unisex given name transferred from the surname. countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    A number of places in the United States:; A minor city in Pratt County, Kansas. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in McCreary County, Kentucky. countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Chikaming township, Berrien County, Michigan. countable, uncountable
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  1. 6
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Carlton County, Minnesota. countable, uncountable
  2. 7
    A number of places in the United States:; A ghost town in Fillmore County, Nebraska. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    A number of places in the United States:; A hamlet in the town of Wheatfield, Niagara County, New York. countable, uncountable
  4. 9
    A number of places in the United States:; A minor city in Ward County, North Dakota. countable, uncountable
  5. 10
    A number of places in the United States:; A town in Choctaw County, Oklahoma. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
sawersawmansawmansawyer beetletanner

Example

More examples

"The sawyer brought some timber over to the cooper's shop, but the cooper is still waiting on the hooper. The chandler is doing fine, though."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English sawyer, sawier, sawior, equivalent to saw + -yer. Doublet of sawer.

Etymology 2

* As an English occupational surname, from sawyer (“one who saws”). Senses loaned from various languages include Jewish/German Seger and Sager, Slovene Žagar. * As a French surname, variant of Seguin.

Related phrases

Sawyer CountySawyers Gullynorth dakota

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.