subs. (common).—A surgeon; FLESH-TAILOR (q.v.).
1836. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, xxx. ‘What! Don’t you know what a SAWBONES is, sir?’ inquired Mr. Weller. ‘I thought everybody know’d as a SAWBONES was a Surgeon.’
1849–50. THACKERAY, Pendennis, II. xviii. She has taken on with another chap—another SAWBONES.
