bushwhack
Americanverb (used without object)
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to make one's way through woods by cutting at undergrowth, branches, etc.
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to travel through woods.
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to pull a boat upstream from on board by grasping bushes, rocks, etc., on the shore.
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to fight as a bushwhacker or guerrilla in the bush.
verb (used with object)
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to fight as a bushwhacker; ambush.
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to defeat, especially by surprise or in an underhanded way.
They bushwhacked our high school team when they used college players.
verb
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(tr) to ambush
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(intr) to cut or beat one's way through thick woods
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(intr) to range or move around in woods or the bush
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(intr) to fight as a guerrilla in wild or uncivilized regions
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(intr) to work in the bush, esp at timber felling
Etymology
Origin of bushwhack
An Americanism first recorded in 1830–40; back formation from bushwhacker
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.
Happy memories included working alongside his sister to bushwhack out planting spaces from the dark thicket of invasive autumn olive, multiflora rose and Oriental bittersweet, connecting those spaces with narrow tunnels hacked from the underbrush.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 23, 2022
This is Matt Blain, who made enough money working at Google that he could quit and do what he really wanted to do: bushwhack and mountain bike.
From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2019
Berry also distinguishes her menu with a daily offering of biryani dishes, including a chicken version whose heat will bushwhack you.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 5, 2018
He’s grown up since then, and I’d rather give him the space to bushwhack through America’s racial angst—and maybe even make mistakes—than reward tidy, safe spectacles that simply pretend that everything’s fine.
From Slate ● Jan. 5, 2016
I stand with the help of the armrest, then bushwhack through an impossible thicket of Jude’s blond hair to a bathroom, where I splash cold water on my face.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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.
