handsaw —
“I know a hawk from a,”
HAMLET, ii. 2. 375.
A very old proverbial expression, in which it would certainly seem that handsaw is a corruption of hernshaw (that is, heron). Ray gives
“He knows not a hawk from a handsaw.”
Proverbs, p. 196, ed.
1768.
A General Glossary to Shakespeare's Works. Alexander Dyce. Boston. Dana Estes and Company. 1904.
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