sawdust

/'sɔ:dʌst/

Thân thiện

A carpenter sweeps up a pile of sawdust from the workshop floor.

Definition

Noun 1. Fine particles of wood produced by sawing: Sawdust consists of the tiny wood shavings, chips, and powder created as a saw cuts through wood.

Usage

Sawdust is an uncountable noun. It refers to the collective mass of wood particles. - The carpenter swept up the sawdust from the workshop floor. - The hamster's cage was lined with sawdust. - The air in the mill was thick with sawdust.

Advanced Usage

• Metaphorical Use for Insignificance or Worthlessness: Sawdust can be used metaphorically to describe something as having little substance or value.
  • His argument had no real content; it was just intellectual sawdust.
• "To let the sawdust out of somebody": An idiom meaning to expose someone's pretentiousness, emptiness, or true nature.
  • The tough interview questions finally let the sawdust out of the arrogant candidate.

Variants and Related Words

• Sawdusty (adjective): Resembling or covered in sawdust.
  • The old workshop had a sawdusty smell.

Synonyms

• Wood shavings (though these can be larger, curly pieces).
• Wood chips (typically larger and chunkier than sawdust).
• Wood flour (a very fine, powdery form of sawdust).

Related Idioms

• "To let the sawdust out of somebody": To reveal someone's lack of substance, pretension, or true character.
  • The debate was his chance to let the sawdust out of his opponent.

Học thuật

Noun

1. fine particles of wood made by sawing wood