DCHP-1 Online

saw-off Slang

• 1a n. in politics: an arrangement by which one party agreed, after an election, to drop charges of corruption against another if the second party would make a similar agreement.

  • 1908  This is the month for election protests. Next month will be the month of election sawoffs.
  • 1953  Sometimes "saw-offs" were arranged, when protest proceedings were withdrawn by mutual consent.

• 1b n. in politics: an arrangement between two parties by which one agrees not to enter a candidate in a certain riding if the other agrees not to enter a candidate in a different riding.

  • 1963  "If you're certain you can elect three members by a saw-off with the Conservatives, go ahead."

• 2 n. any arrangement by which one concession is balanced against another.

  • 1909  What's up? Someone getting married--or a legacy, or a saw-off?
  • 1963  So-called "permissible concentrations" and "protection guides" are merely saw-offs between political, military or economic expedience, on one hand, and medical fact on the other.
  • 1966  [Headline] Alberta hopes for sawoff on medicare with Ottawa.