seesaw

• see-saw

Probably a frequentative imitative of rhythmic back-and-forth, up-and-down or zigzagging motion, such as teeter-totter, zigzag, flip-flop, ping pong, etc., under the umbrella term of reduplication; also likely influenced by the verbs see and saw of either present or past tense.

seesaw (plural seesaws)

1. A structure composed of a plank, balanced in the middle, used as a game in which one person goes up as the other goes down.

   Synonym: teeter-totter

2. A series of up-and-down movements.
3. A series of alternating movements or feelings.
   • Sir W. Hamilton

     He has been arguing in a circle; there is thus a seesaw between the hypothesis and fact.

   • 2011 November 5, Phil Dawkes, “QPR 2 - 3 Man City”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Manchester City kept up their unbeaten start to the Premier League season with victory over QPR in an entertaining see-saw encounter at Loftus Road.

seesaw (third-person singular simple present seesaws, present participle seesawing, simple past and past participle seesawed)

1. (intransitive) To use a seesaw.
2. (intransitive, by extension) To fluctuate.
   • 1971, “All I Want”, in Blue, performed by Joni Mitchell:

     When I think of your kisses / My mind see-saws

3. (transitive) To cause to move backward and forward in seesaw fashion.
   • Ld. Lytton

     He seesaws himself to and fro.

seesaw (comparative more seesaw, superlative most seesaw)

1. fluctuating.

• Weases