sawbuck

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

* From saw + buck, calque of Dutch zaagbok. * (ten-dollar bill): From the resemblance of the Roman numeral X (ten) to a sawhorse.

Behind walls of corded wood in back yards their sawbucks stood in depressions scattered with canary-yellow flakes of sawdust. — Main Street, Sinclair Lewis
The pack-saddle on which this was carried was provided with a rack like a sawbuck placed crosswise of the saddle, and raised above it so that the reel, with its wire, would revolve freely. — Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) Grant
Carl jumped down from the sawbuck and marched deliberately out of the yard, along Oak Street toward The Hill, the smart section of Joralemon, where live in exclusive state five large houses that get painted nearly every year. — The Trail of the Hawk: A Comedy of the Seriousness of Life, Sinclair Lewis

sawhorse, horse, buck

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