Green’s Dictionary of Slang

of a person or occas. object, short; or legless.

1863		in R.G. Carter Four Brothers in Blue (1978) 4 May 253: He was a short, sawed-off little Irishman, not much over five feet five inches.
1878–9		A. Garcia Tough Trip Through Paradise (1977) 227: The other sawed-off squaw man had his gun on me.
1886		Era (London) 6 Nov. 8/1: Lord lonsdale’s valet [...] is a sawed-off Englishman.
1892		Hampshire Teleg. 11 June 12/5: A certain little sawed-off, hump-backed, goggle-eyed, raw-boned man.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 365: A little sawed-off weazen-face that used to ride ’em through the snow.
1900		A.H. Lewis ‘Mulberry Mary’ in Sandburrs 8: She’s nothin’ but a sawed-off kid.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Dec. 34/2: I wasn’t much surprised to see how quickly Salvation had to sit behind lucre when [...] a sawn-off old waggon of a ‘country-wallah’ made her appearance with a cargo re-consigned to Cardy from Singapore.
1917		Wodehouse ‘At Geisenheimer’s’ in Man with Two Left Feet 106: I could have bitten him, the sawn-off little rube!
1919		Van Loan ‘Excess Baggage’ in Score by Innings (2004) 393: A lop-eared, sawed-off married man like Chick Dorsey.
1920		(?) H. Lawson ‘A Wet Camp’ in Roderick (1972) 892: Little, dumpy, sawn-off swag was standing on end right in the middle of the garden path.
1922		M.E. Smith Adventures of a Boomer Op. 20: This fellow was a little sawed-off runt.
1935		(con. late 1920s) L. Hughes Little Ham Act II: Smoothest little sawed-off pigmy this side of Abyssinia!
1940		S. Lister Mistral Hotel (1951) 40: Fancy lettin’ yourselves be pushed around by a little sawn-off runt with a Charlie Chaplain moustache!
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 71: That flashy, sawed-off runt of a jockey named Patrick.
1954		J.E. Macdonnell Jim Brady 243: You sawn-off carrot-headed squirt.
1958		(con. 1950) E. Frankel Band of Brothers 29: He’s going to be big, not sawed-off like his old man.
1966		G. & K. Swarthout Whichaway (1967) 1: Beans was a sawed-off old gent.
1969		N. Cohn Awopbop. (1970) 81: Shannon was pretty sawn-off.
1971		F.J. Hardy Outcasts of Foolgarah (1975) 21: He’s the greatest know-all, sawn-orf Pommy who ever came out of the slums of London.
1977		(con. 1911) J. Monaghan Schoolboy, Cowboy, Mexican Spy 135: If li’l ol’ sawed-off Madero don’t do suthink right now.
1982		S. King Different Seasons (1995) 455: You’re just a sawed-off pint-sized pissy-assed little runt.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Sawn-off gangster. A prisoner of short stature projecting a tough image.
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 65: Like Tutt would ever let some sawed-off little spade give him any kind of shit.
2003		Simon & Burns ‘Collateral Damage’ Wire ser. 2 ep. 1 [TV script] That sawed-off piece of shit.