seesaw
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A seesaw. 
Makeshift seesaws are used for acrobatics.
See also: see-saw
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Probably a frequentative imitative of rhythmic back-and-forth, up-and-down or zigzagging motion, such as teeter-totter, zigzag, flip-flop, ping pong, etc., under the umbrella term of reduplication; also likely influenced by the verbs see and saw of either present or past tense.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sô, IPA(key): /ˈsiː.sɔː/
- Rhymes: -iːsɔ
- (US) enPR: sô, IPA(key): /ˈsi.sɔ/
- (cot–caught merger) enPR: sä, IPA(key): /ˈsiː.sɑː/
Noun
seesaw (plural seesaws)
- A structure composed of a plank, balanced in the middle, used as a game in which one person goes up as the other goes down.
- Synonym: teeter-totter
- A series of up-and-down movements.
- A series of alternating movements or feelings.
- 1859–1860, William Hamilton, edited by H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic , volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:
- He has been arguing in a circle; there is thus a see-saw between the hypothesis and the fact.
- 2011 November 5, Phil Dawkes, “QPR 2 - 3 Man City”, in BBC Sport:
- Manchester Citykept up their unbeaten start to the Premier League season with victory over QPR in an entertaining see-saw encounter at Loftus Road.
- (medicine, attributively) An abnormal breathing pattern caused by airway obstruction, characterized by paradoxical chest and abdominal movement.
Translations
structure moving up and down, balanced in the middle
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movement
Verb
seesaw (third-person singular simple present seesaws, present participle seesawing, simple past and past participle seesawed)
- (intransitive) To use a seesaw.
- (intransitive, by extension) To fluctuate.
- 1971, “All I Want”, in Blue, performed by Joni Mitchell:
- When I think of your kisses / My mind see-saws
- (transitive) To cause to move backward and forward in seesaw fashion.
- 1832, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Eugene Aram:
- He see-saws himself to and fro.
Translations
to use a seesaw
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to fluctuate
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Adjective
seesaw (comparative more seesaw, superlative most seesaw)