hatchet [ hach -it ] SHOW IPA
/ ˈhætʃ ɪt / PHONETIC RESPELLING
EXAMPLES | WORD ORIGIN | IDIOMS noun 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.
a tomahawk.
verb (used with object) to cut, destroy, kill, etc., with a hatchet.
to abridge, delete, excise, etc.: The network censor may hatchet 30 minutes from the script.
Idioms bury the hatchet , to become reconciled or reunited; make peace.
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.
Origin of hatchet 1300–50; 1670–80, Americanism 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 )
Related forms hatch·et·like , adjective Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for hatchet This is not a hatchet job, and it certainly could have been.
From Kimmel and Kanye burying the hatchet to a telekinetic coffee shop surprise, WATCH our countdown.
And, he added, a mayor would be foolish to attempt to “take a hatchet to the financial industry.”
According to the police report, officers also found a Taser and a hatchet in the house.
Maybe now Rush Limbaugh and Sandra Fluke can bury the hatchet .
Now, if a hatchet will do more good than an arrow, he will direct his energies to the making of the hatchet .
Macavoy, stripped to the waist, and carrying only a hatchet and a coil of rope tied round him, started away alone up the river.
On the opposite corner, diagonally, have an imitation stump with hatchet sticking in the wood.
The carpenter seized a hatchet , and, leaving his berth, hurried up to encounter Aupic.
His father had shot one, and he'd had to leave his hatchet sticking in the skull of another, when his rifle had misfired.
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British Dictionary definitions for hatchet noun a short axe used for chopping wood, etc
a tomahawk
(modifier) of narrow dimensions and sharp features a hatchet face
bury the hatchet to cease hostilities and become reconciled
Derived Forms hatchet-like , adjective Word Origin for hatchet C14: from Old French hachette, from hache axe, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German happa knife
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for hatchet n. c.1300 "small ax" (mid-12c. in surnames), from Old French hachete , diminutive of hache "ax, battle-axe, pickaxe," possibly from Frankish *happja or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *hæbijo (cf. Old High German happa "sickle, scythe"), from PIE root *kop- "to beat, strike" (cf. Greek kopis "knife;" Lithuanian kaplys "hatchet," kapoti "cut small;" Old Church Slavonic skopiti "castrate").
In Middle English, hatch itself was used in a sense "battle-axe." In 14c., hang up (one's) hatchet meant "stop what one is doing." Phrase bury the hatchet (1794) is from a supposed Native American peacemaking custom. Hatchet-man was originally California slang for "hired Chinese assassin" (1880), later extended figuratively to journalists who attacked the reputation of a public figure (1944).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with hatchet In addition to the idioms beginning with hatchet
also see:
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
