sawman

English

Etymology

From 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^[1], 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^[2], 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^[3], 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

• sawyer