sawbuck, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sawbuck n.

also sawhorse, sawski, sawsky, sawzie

[SE sawbuck, an X-shaped sawhorse; the X of the sawhorse is equated with the Roman numeral X, 10 + buck n.³ (1)/joc. use of ‘Slavic’ sfx -ski]

(US)

1. $10.

1843		Boston Satirist (MA) 3 Feb. n.p.: New Bedford Wants to Know [...] If A.V. would go on another burst [...] if he had half a of a saw horse to spare?
1852		Oregon Statesman 13 Nov. 1/1: Dod rabbit it, there goes another ‘saw-buck,’ on the plag’uey jack [DA].
1884		H.G. Carleton Thompson Street Poker Club 44: ‘Dad was a sawbuck’.
1892		Outing (N.Y.) June 216/2: I’se got two sawbucks lef’, an’ up dey goes on de ole hoss [DA].
1903		‘Hugh McHugh’ I Need The Money 81: Ten sawbucks on this here Beans, Mr. Bookmaker.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 35: He’s crabbing a string of good lays by hyping with a deuce where a saw buck could be changed just as readily.
1922		T. Thursday ‘Ten Dollars – No Sense’ in Top-Notch 15 Dec. 🌐 The bird [...] paid less attention to the sawbuck than if it was an Ignited Cigar Store goopon.
1931		D. Runyon ‘Hold ’Em, Yale!’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 148: I will sell you a choice ducket for only a sawbuck, which is ten dollars in your language.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 182: He stakes the clerk to a sawsky.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 23: Every time you duck Kvorka for his double sawzie he [...] pulls us in.
1949		R. Chandler Little Sister 30: There’s one sawbuck you don’t get to spend.
1956		‘Toney Betts’ Across the Board 80: They were betting deuces, fins, sawbucks and double sawbucks.
1959		W. Burroughs Naked Lunch (1968) 20: We rigged his room with a one-way whorehouse mirror and charged a sawski to watch it.
1967		(con. 1950s) McAleer & Dickson Unit Pride (1981) 26: ‘What the hell’s a sawbuck?’ ‘Ten bucks. A double’s twenty.’.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 77: I wrapped the saw buck and the four singles around it [i.e. a roll of blank paper].
1979		G. Wolff Duke of Deception (1990) 42: Duke Wolff just borrowed a sawbuck from me.
1987		R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 146: Don’t let that sawbuck give you any grand ideas.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 48: If the fly was carrying less than a sawski.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 65: A phony bankroll with a sawbuck wrapper.
2002		S. Phillips Walkaway (2003) 236: I really did want to give him that sawbuck.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 15: I socked him a sawbuck.

2. a 10-year prison sentence.

1926		Times Despatch (Richmond, VA) 17 Oct. 7/7: Doing a sawbuck — Ten year’s imprisonment .
1933		C. Himes ‘His Last Day’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 296: That had been long before he had taken his first tumble and got the saw-buck in the big house.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1952		C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 324: Sawbuck, 1. Ten years.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 816: saw buck – A ten years’ sentence.
1971–2		C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 213: sawbuck, n. – a ten-year sentence.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 19: Dime A 10-year prison sentence. (Archaic: sawbuck, sawski).

In phrases

double sawbuck (n.) (also double saw, double sawski)

1. (US) $20; thus sawbuck v. use in cit. 1985 means to borrow $20 bills.

1850		Knickerbocker (NY) XXXVI. 297: Send me the two double ‘saw-bucks’ .
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 26: CRAB [...] Example: ‘This fink crabbed the play and we went on the nut for a double saw-buck.’.
1926		Maines & Grant Wise-crack Dict. 7/2: Double saw – Twenty dollar bill.
1927		K. Nicholson Barker II ii: A piece you that you couldn’t git fer a double sawbuck nowadays.
1931		D. Runyon ‘A Nice Price’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 191: And there is my double saw.
1937		‘Boxcar Bertha’ Sister of the Road (1975) 157: I want to put away a double sawbuck every week so that we can get out of the racket.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 131: I had a check for a double sawbuck coming from a booking office in Chi.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 13: So he puts up a double saw.
1953		R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 14: I got five double sawbucks out of my wallet and dropped them in front of him.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 71: He’s into us for a double sawski.
1955		Q. Reynolds Police Headquarters (1956) 135: That ought to be worth a double saw.
1956		‘Toney Betts’ Across the Board 80: They were betting deuces, fins, sawbucks and double sawbucks.
1967		(con. 1950s) McAleer & Dickson Unit Pride (1981) 26: ‘What the hell’s a sawbuck?’ ‘Ten bucks. A double’s twenty.’.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 31: You see that fine ‘silk’ broad, I got a ‘double saw’ to lay her.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Detroit Redhead’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 105: A meet with a fag who [...] was good for a double sawbuck.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 20: He was sawbucking me to death. Twenty here. Twenty there.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 296: You could always gag me with Mr. Happy there. For a double sawski.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 24: Drop a double sawski with his favorite lovely lady.

2. (US/Can. prison) a 20-year prison sentence.

1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 61/1: Double-saw. [...] 2. A prison sentence of twenty years.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 797: double sawbuck – A twenty-year prison sentence.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.

3. (US prison) a twenty-five year prison sentence.

1971–2

C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 203: double saw, n. – a twenty-five-year sentence.