A sawbuck is a sawhorse or a ten-dollar bill, with the latter association possibly stemming from the Roman numeral for ten resembling its shape.
Sawbuck can refer to a sawhorse, especially one with X-shaped ends, or a ten-dollar bill. The association with ten dollars likely comes from the Roman numeral X shape.
| Word | sawbuck |
|---|---|
| Date | March 1, 2007 |
| Type | noun |
| Syllables | SAW-buck |
| Etymology | It has been suggested that the word "sawbuck" came to mean "a 10-dollar bill" because the X-shaped ends of a sawbuck look like the Roman numeral for 10. This explanation is problematic because earliest known use of "sawbuck" in print, from 1850, refers to a 10-dollar bill, not a sawhorse. But we won't rule out the possibility that the "sawhorse" sense was used in speech before 1850 and just didn't appear in print until later. If you are wondering about "buck," we can tell you that it first appeared in print as a word for "dollar" in 1856 -- six years after the first recorded use of "sawbuck" for a 10-dollar bill. *Indicates the sense illustrated in example sentence. |
| Examples | "Arena rock shows that once promised spectacle for less than a sawbuck have bloated into elite affairs resembling closed corporate events." (Jon Fine, Business Week, February 6, 2006) |
| Definition | 1 : a 10-dollar bill 2 : sawhorse; especially : one with X-shaped ends |
Tags: wordoftheday::noun
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