buzzsaws

Noun

buzzsaw (plural buzzsaws)

1. 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
2. (slang) 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
3. (slang) 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
4. (slang) A violently destructive attack.
   • The changes ran into a buzzsaw of Congressional criticism.1983, TVI Journal - Volume 4, page 15
5. 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

See all 8 meanings of buzzsaw