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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

saw off the branch one is sitting on en · VERB

Meanings

  1. To pursue a course of action that will lead to self-destruction.
    • If we insist that all thoughts are simply chemical or physical phenomena, and conclude that reason is therefore unlikely to yield true beliefs, we will saw off the branch of the tree we are sitting on. 2016, Justin Buckley Dyer, Micah J. Watson, C. S. Lewis on Politics and the Natural Law, page 24:
    • The model is wrong. Papatūānuku is the basis of real wealth. Her wellbeing should not be the cost of accumulating wealth. We are literally sawing off the branch we sit on. 2020, Sarah Bennett, Dave Bamford, Susanne Becken, 100% Pure Future: New Zealand Tourism Renewed, page 29:
    • A critic's role, he wrote, is that of “sawing off the branch on which one is sitting”: One can and may continue to sit on a branch while sawing it. There is no physical or moral obstacle if one is willing to risk the consequences. 2006, Frederick Crews, Postmodern Pooh, page 11:
    • Since the theory of action must necessarily start with the actors, then the actors who saw off the branch on which they sit cannot give their action any meaning. 2012, U. Duchrow, F. Hinkelammert, Transcending Greedy Money:
    • BUT, if you persist in your slanders against God's Holy Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives, sawing off the branch on which you are sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives. 2016, Ellen Landreth, My Little Visits With God Corrected, page 131:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
saws off the branch one is sitting on Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
sawed off the branch one was sitting on Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
sawed off the branch one was sitting on Tense=Past lexicographic
sawing off the branch one is sitting on Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
sawn off the branch one was sitting on Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Relateds

dig one's own grave · bite the hand that feeds one · shoot oneself in the foot · dig a hole for oneself · like turkeys voting for Christmas

Translations (9)

el πριονίζω το κλαδί στο οποίο κάθομαι (Translations) · hu maga alatt vágja a fát (Translations) · pl podcinać gałąź, na której się siedzi (Translations) · ru пили́ть сук, на кото́ром сиди́шь (Translations) · pl podciąć gałąź, na której się siedzi (Translations) · el πριονίζω το κλαδί που κάθομαι (Translations) · fr scier la branche sur laquelle on est assis (Translations) · fi sahata omaa oksaansa (Translations) · de den Ast absägen, auf dem man sitzt (Translations)