Question

Saw Logs to snore, to breathe loudly through your nose while you're sleeping soundly

Accepted Answer

I could hear Dad sawing logs on the living room couch. This is a sound-effect idiom. In the early 1900s a writer with a good ear for sounds was looking for an imaginative way to describe someone snoring with gusto. The sound of snoring reminded him of wood being sawed. Even today, cartoonists sometimes draw a picture of logs with a saw in them above the heads of sleeping people.

Idiom	Saw Logs
Example	I could hear Dad sawing logs on the living room couch.
Meaning	to snore, to breathe loudly through your nose while you're sleeping soundly
Origin	This is a sound-effect idiom. In the early 1900s a writer with a good ear for sounds was looking for an imaginative way to describe someone snoring with gusto. The sound of snoring reminded him of wood being sawed. Even today, cartoonists sometimes draw a picture of logs with a saw in them above the heads of sleeping people.

Logs Sleeping Snoring I Hear Dad Sawing Living