seesaw

plural seesaws · alternative see-saw

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.

   Synonyms: teeter-totter

2. The game or pastime of seesawing.

   Now Jill did laugh And Jack did cry, But his tears did soon abate, Then Jill did say, That they should play, At sea-saw across the gate.

   1810, Jack and Jill, and old Dame Gill, York: J. Kendrew, page 8

3. figurativelyA series of up-and-down movements.
4. figurativelyA series of alternating movements or feelings.

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

   a. 1857, William Hamilton, edited by H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1859–1860, →OCLC

   1 more example

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

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

5. attributivemedicineAn abnormal breathing pattern caused by airway obstruction, characterized by paradoxical chest and abdominal movement.
6. board gamesA tactic in which a piece repeatedly gains material, while simultaneously creating an inescapable series of alternating direct and discovered checks.

   Synonyms: windmill, Zwickmühle

present singular third person seesaws · participle present seesawing · participle past seesawed · past seesawed · alternative see-saw

1. intransitiveTo use a seesaw.

   They sea-saw'd high, They sea-saw'd low, At length they both did tumble, We both are down We both must own, Let neither of us grumble.

   1810, Jack and Jill, and old Dame Gill, York: J. Kendrew, page 9

2. broadlyfigurativelyintransitiveTo fluctuate.

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

   1971, “All I Want”, in Blue, performed by Joni Mitchell

3. figurativelytransitiveTo cause to move backward and forward in a seesaw fashion.

   He see-saws himself to and fro.

   1832, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Eugene Aram

comparative more seesaw · superlative most seesaw · alternative see-saw

1. figurativelyFluctuating.