hatchet
Americannoun
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a small, short-handled ax having the end of the head opposite the blade in the form of a hammer, made to be used with one hand.
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a tomahawk.
verb (used with object)
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to cut, destroy, kill, etc., with a hatchet.
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to abridge, delete, excise, etc..
The network censor may hatchet 30 minutes from the script.
idioms
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bury the hatchet, to become reconciled or reunited; make peace.
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take up the hatchet, to begin or resume hostilities; prepare for or go to war.
The natives are taking up the hatchet against the enemy.
noun
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a short axe used for chopping wood, etc
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a tomahawk
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(modifier) of narrow dimensions and sharp features
a hatchet face
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to cease hostilities and become reconciled
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hatchet
1300–50; 1670–80, hatchet for def. 6; Middle English hachet < Middle French hachette, diminutive ( see -et) of hache ax < Frankish *hapja kind of knife; akin to Greek kóptein to cut ( cf. comma, syncope)
Explanation
A hatchet is a little ax used for chopping wood or for hewing a round log into a squared-off shape. If you go camping, you might take a hatchet with you. If someone hands you a hatchet and tells you to start splitting a pile of firewood, they expect you to chop each log into smaller pieces. The difference between a hatchet and an ax is that hatchets have short handles and are meant to be held in one hand. Axes have longer handles for two-handed chopping. If someone wants to "bury the hatchet," it's not a threat—they just want to end an argument and be friends.
Vocabulary lists containing hatchet
Hatchet
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"Train Time," Vocabulary from the short story
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The River
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ms Hatchet posted on X that she had removed "hateful stitching" and called on the trust to "apologise to women immediately".
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2025
Draluck also highlights Brian Dusmoor, his friend and culinary mentor, with whom he worked at Hatchet Hall.
From Salon • Nov. 3, 2023
About 10 statements were projected onto the library building for more than two hours, according to the school’s newspaper, The GW Hatchet.
From Washington Times • Oct. 25, 2023
Mr. Hazlewood is suing Netflix for using his photo in “The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker,” a true-crime documentary about a hitchhiker turned convicted murderer.
From New York Times • Apr. 18, 2023
By the time they tracked Hatchet to the base of the Kambali Mountains in northern Oxscini, after two weeks on the trail together, they had developed an informal partnership.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
