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🔄 To pressure both ways 🪚 A long saw 🪚 To saw wood
to whipsaw

to whipsaw

9.9
To cut wood by two people pulling a long saw back and forth
  • verb
  • /ˈwɪpˌsɔ/
  • Archaic
translation icon : sierra de dos hombres
  • They whipsaw the logs in the forest.

Examples

  • They spent the afternoon whipsawing large tree trunks for building materials.

  • Traditionally, teams whipsawed timber in saw pits before the advent of powered sawmills.

  • In the early days, lumberjacks would whipsaw logs into planks by hand.

  • The workers whipsawed the timber for the new cabin.

  • The lumberjacks worked together to whipsaw the fallen tree into manageable logs.

  • After setting up the saw, the workers began to whipsaw the timber back and forth.

  • They each took a handle and started to whipsaw the wood, pulling alternately.

Synonyms

to hew
vsto whipsaw
8 7.9

To cut or shape wood with a heavy sharp tool like an axe

involves two people pulling a long saw back and forth alternately

Surface Forms

whipsaw infinitive
whipsawed past
whipsawed past participle
whipsawing present participle
whipsaws third person singular

Etymology

Whipsaw comes from the tool name made of whip + saw, because the long two-person saw moves back and forth like a 'whip'. So to whipsaw wood is to cut it with that long saw.