buzzsaw
buzzsaw noun: a circular saw.
Noun
buzzsaw (plural buzzsaws)
- A circular saw.
- Agriculture Secretary Edward T. Schafer is preparing to walk into a buzzsaw of criticism over American biofuels policy when he meets with world leaders to discuss the global food crisis next week.2008 May 30, Andrew Martin, “Food Report Criticizes Biofuel Policies”, in New York Times
- Someone or something that makes a loud, harsh, grinding or rasping noise, like that of a circular saw.
- No danger of these buzzsaws waking up, it was enough to make you wish for impaired hearing.1979, Michael Bishop, Catacomb Years, page 112
- Anyway, buzzsaw hardcore from both bands with nice 'n' trebly production, and each have some Japanese influences in there.2006, Maximum Rocknroll - Issue 277, page 30
- The MG 42 general-purpose machine gun.
- Golden tracers from the jaggering MG42 buzzsaw lit up the air like glitter, and from both directions there were bee-hive-volumes of whizzes and snaps as bullets passed through the air, in some cases only feet from them.2012, Benjamin Blackie, Sea Dogs, page 56
- Suddenly, machine-gun rounds tore over their heads, stitching a neat row of holes in the wall above them, the weapon's unmistakable ripping report identifying it as a 'buzz saw', as the GIs had nicknamed the German MG42 because of its stupendous rate of fire.2018, Mark Felton, Ghost Riders
- A violently destructive attack.
- The changes ran into a buzzsaw of Congressional criticism.1983, TVI Journal - Volume 4, page 15
- Downsizings attack managers like an emotional buzzsaw.1987, Paul Morris Hirsch, Pack Your Own Parachute, page 88
- One who attacks violently and/or mindlessly.
- So he keeps away from the intellectual buzzsaws; and, as both philology and philosophy grow ever more and more technical, the gap between them, if anything, widens.1935, Ivor Armstrong Richards, Basic in Teaching: East and West, page 8
- Apparently the jay was unaware that the hawk no longer had its hold because it became a buzzsaw of blue fury, slashing the hawk several more times.1973, Kansas Fish and Game - Volumes 30-33, page 2
Verb
buzzsaw (third-person singular simple present buzzsaws, present participle buzzsawing, simple past and past participle buzzsawed)
- To cut with a circular saw.
- To spin rapidly like the blades of a circular saw.
- The 7.62 tumblers would buzzsaw through the flimsy protection offered by the float.1990, Kyle Maning, Blood Storm, page 53
- To produce a loud, harsh noise like that of a circular saw.
- When the sun comes early through eastern windows and a single horsefly buzzsaws the air it is then I rise from bed my dreams of amputation, of teeth lost, cloaked in the amnesia of another day overwhelmed with trivia.1981, Michael Hogan, The Broken Face of Summer: Poems
- A loud screeching sound buzzsaws the eerie silence of the day.2014, Cody Toye, Evolution
Examples of buzzsaw in a sentence
- Nasal buzzsaws shook the sides of the tent as finally, they were all out for night.2011, Phillip A. Elwood, Giant in the Hills, page 11:
- In the darkness, Benny listened to the sounds of the street: a far-off police siren, a dog's growl, a hip-hop pulse blaring from a car stereo, the buzzsaw whine of the El.2014, Wendy Ruderman, Barbara Laker, Busted:
- Landry's martyrdom was automatic and mostly unavoidable -- although Jerry, bless his heart, went into his initial press conference at Valley Ranch and walked right into his second media buzzsaw.1994, Jimmy Johnson, Ed Hinton, Turning the Thing Around: My Life in Football, page 24:
- But aware of it or not, Johnson was heading into a buzzsaw.1995, Henry W. Thomas, Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train, page 322:
Forms of buzzsaw
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | buzzsaws |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | buzzsaws |
| present participle | buzzsawing |
| past participle | buzzsawed |
| past | buzzsawed |
Origin of buzzsaw
From buzz + saw.
Words formed from buzzsaw
Questions about buzzsaw
- What does buzzsaw mean?
- Buzzsaw means a circular saw.
- How do you use buzzsaw in a sentence?
- Nasal buzzsaws shook the sides of the tent as finally, they were all out for night.
- What part of speech is buzzsaw?
- Buzzsaw can be a noun or a verb.
- What is the plural of buzzsaw?
- The plural of buzzsaw is buzzsaws.
Words near buzzsaw in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: buzzsaw (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “buzzsaw.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/buzzsaw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.