Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A member of a West Germanic tribal group that inhabited northern Germany and invaded Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries AD with the Angles and Jutes.
  • noun A person of English or Lowland Scots birth or ancestry as distinguished from one of Irish, Welsh, or Highland Scots birth or ancestry.
  • noun A native or inhabitant of Saxony.
  • noun The West Germanic language of any of the ancient Saxon peoples.
  • noun The Germanic element of English as distinguished from the French and Latin elements.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of the nation or people which formerly dwelt in the northern part of Germany, and invaded and conquered England in the fifth and sixth centuries; also, one of their descendants. See Angle, Anglo-Saxon, and Jute.
  • noun One of the English race or English-speaking races.
  • noun An Englishman, as distinguished from an Irishman.
  • noun A native or an inhabitant of Saxony in its later German sense.
  • noun The language of the Saxons; Anglo-Saxon; by extension, modern English speech of Saxon or Anglo-Saxon origin; English diction composed mainly of Saxon words, and not Latinized or of classical or other origin. See Anglo-Saxon. Abbreviated Sax.
  • noun In entomology, the noctuid moth Hadena rectilinea: an English collectors' name.
  • Pertaining to the Saxons (in any sense), their country, or language; Anglo-Saxon.
  • Of or pertaining to the later Saxons in Germany.
  • The blue obtained on wool by the use of Saxony blue. It is brighter than the blue of the indigo-vat, but not so fast to light or alkalis.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Anglo-Saxon.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to Saxony or its inhabitants.
  • adjective (Dyeing) a deep blue liquid used in dyeing, and obtained by dissolving indigo in concentrated sulphuric acid.
  • adjective (Dyeing) a green color produced by dyeing with yellow upon a ground of Saxon blue.
  • noun One of a nation or people who formerly dwelt in the northern part of Germany, and who, with other Teutonic tribes, invaded and conquered England in the fifth and sixth centuries.
  • noun Also used in the sense of Anglo-Saxon.
  • noun A native or inhabitant of modern Saxony.
  • noun The language of the Saxons; Anglo-Saxon.
  • noun the Saxon of the continent of Europe in the old form of the language, as shown particularly in the “Heliand”, a metrical narration of the gospel history preserved in manuscripts of the 9th century.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A member of an ancient northern Germanic tribe that invaded England, together with Angles and Frisians, about the year 600.
  • noun A native or inhabitant of Saxony.
  • proper noun The language of the ancient Saxons.
  • adjective Of or relating to the Saxons.
  • adjective Of or relating to Saxony.
  • adjective Of or relating to the Saxon language.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to or characteristic of the early Saxons or Anglo-Saxons and their descendents (especially the English or Lowland Scots) and their language
  • noun a member of a Germanic people who conquered England and merged with the Angles and Jutes to become Anglo-Saxons; dominant in England until the Norman Conquest

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Late Latin Saxō, Saxon-, of Germanic origin; see sek- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English *Saxon, Saxoun, from Old French *Saxoun, Saxon ("Saxon"), from Late Latin Saxonem, accusative of Saxo ("a Saxon"), from West Germanic *Sahsô, probably originally a derivative of Proto-Germanic *sahsan (“rock, knife”), from Proto-Indo-European *sÁk-, *sek- (“to cut”). Cognate with Middle Low German Sasse ("someone speaking Saxon, i.e. (Middle) Low German"), Old English Seaxa ("a Saxon"), Old High German Sahso ("a Saxon"), Icelandic Saxi ("a Saxon"), Old English seax ("a knife, hip-knife, an instrument for cutting, a short sword, dirk, dagger"). More at sax.

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Examples

  • -- _Observations upon Saxon heraldry_, with drawings of _Saxon atchievements_, &c.p. 245.

    The Rowley Poems Thomas Chatterton

  • But there was a community, or rather group of communities, living in Britain before the Conquest under what we call Saxon names, and of a blood probably more Germanic and certainly less French than the same communities after the Conquest.

    A Short History of England 1905

  • Anglo-Saxon is not meant merely the people of that tight little island on the edge of the Western Ocean.

    These Bones shall Rise Again - Essay by Jack London 2010

  • The phrase was an incessant iteration in Saxon's brain.

    CHAPTER IX 2010

  • Now the Anglo-Saxon is so constituted that to brow-beat or bully him is the last way under the sun of getting him to do any certain thing.

    In Yeddo Bay 2010

  • The Anglo-Saxon is a pirate, a land robber and a sea robber.

    These Bones shall Rise Again - Essay by Jack London 2010

  • "Be brave," she said, with low earnestness, in Saxon's ear.

    CHAPTER III 2010

  • The tears were in Saxon's eyes, and she could have cried over the manhandled body of her beautiful sick boy.

    CHAPTER XIII 2010

  • Blue-eyed, strong-featured, in Saxon's opinion he was undeniably handsome.

    CHAPTER XII 2010

  • The Anglo-Saxon is strong of arm and heavy of hand, and he possesses a primitive brutality all his own.

    These Bones shall Rise Again - Essay by Jack London 2010

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