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folding saw

folding saw

4.0
A small portable saw with teeth on the blade that closes into its handle
  • noun
  • /ˈfoʊldɪŋ sɔː/
translation icon : sierra plegable
  • The campers packed a folding saw for easy wood cutting while out in the wilderness.

Examples

  • With a folding saw in hand, she quickly prepared firewood for their evening campfire.

  • Until the sickness had taken her, as it had taken so many others, Kang's wife had climbed this very hill, armed with the same folding saw that he now carried, and the same length of rope.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • Leaving the ridge for the wooded hillside a hundred yards away, he pounced on a small tree and, kneeling in the snow, sawed furiously at its trunk with his little folding saw.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • He used a folding saw to trim the branches of the tree in his backyard.

Synonyms

saw
vsfolding saw
54 1.0

A tool with a thin toothed blade used to cut wood or other materials

is portable and folds into its handle for safety and convenience
hand saw
vsfolding saw
1 2.1

A saw used with one hand to cut wood

folds into its handle for safety and convenience
coping saw
vsfolding saw
  • Specialized
1 6.9

A small hand saw with a thin blade in a U-shaped frame for cutting curves in wood

is portable and folds into its handle instead of being framed for fine work
carpenter's saw
vsfolding saw
3.4

A hand saw used by carpenters to cut wood

is portable and folds into its handle for safe storage
compass saw
vsfolding saw
  • Specialized
7.9

A small tool with a long, narrow, pointed blade for cutting tight curves in wood

is designed to fold into its handle rather than for fine curved cutting

How Portable

folding saw
4.0
hand saw
1 2.1

Surface Forms

folding saw singular
folding saws plural

Morphology

folding + saw

The meaning 'a saw that can be folded' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'folding' (capable of being folded) with 'saw' (a cutting tool). This noun compound follows a common, compositional English pattern and similar constructions exist in other languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand it.

Etymology

Folding saw is a simple, literal name: the word saw and the idea of folding explain it, because the blade folds into the handle so the sharp part is hidden. Because the blade tucks away, the tool is easy to carry and 'safe' to store, so the term means a small, 'portable' saw used for camping and light work.