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.
Most famously, Parson Weems invented from whole cloth the story about young Washington taking a hatchet to his father’s cherry tree, then confessing to it.
From Slate • Feb. 16, 2026
The government took a hatchet to its payrolls.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025
But wanting to remind folks that he could still be funny, he decided to bury the hatchet with “Saturday Night Live,” returning to host in 2019: “‘SNL’ is part of my history.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 12, 2025
Tottenham were still far too slick for Copenhagen and Van de Ven buried the hatchet in the 64th minute.
From Barron's • Nov. 4, 2025
The first faint light hit the silver of the hatchet and it flashed a brilliant gold in the light Like fire.
From "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen
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.
