Sawmill

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A facility where logs are cut into lumber using large mechanical blades
2. A site designed for the conversion of timber into various wood products through cutting and processing with specialized equipment
3. A building equipped with machinery for processing timber into planks and other wood forms through sawing and milling operations

Etymology: A sawmill is about as transparent as compounds get: a saw joined to a mill, two old English-era ideas fused into one name. The "mill" half carries the older history. It comes from Old English "mylen," itself borrowed from Latin "molina," meaning a mill for grinding grain, and the word spread through Germanic languages long before anyone was cutting planks with it. Mills were originally grain grinders, powered by water or wind, and the term was later extended to any machine that processed material mechanically. The "saw" half is the surprising one for modern readers. For centuries, a sawmill was powered by water wheels that turned a reciprocating frame saw, so the mill's real innovation was harnessing waterpower to do the repetitive cutting. The combination therefore names a place where a machine, not a person with a handsaw, did the work.

Synonyms: lumber mill, wood mill