tomahawk

[ tom-uh-hawk ]

/ ˈtɒm əˌhɔk /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR tomahawk ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a light ax used by the North American Indians as a weapon and tool.

any of various similar weapons or implements.

(in Australia) a stone hatchet used by the Aborigines.

verb (used with object)

to attack, wound, or kill with or as if with a tomahawk.

Words nearby tomahawk

tom sawyer, the adventures of, tom thumb, tom, dick and jerry, tom, dick, and harry, tom-tom, tomahawk, tomalley, toman, tomatillo, tomato, tomato aspic

Origin of tomahawk

1605–15; < Virginia Algonquian (E spelling) tamahaac hatchet (equivalent to Proto-Algonquian *temah- to cut (it) off + *-a·kan- instrument for)

OTHER WORDS FROM tomahawk

tom·a·hawk·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for tomahawk

The USS Arleigh Burke, a destroyer, and USS Philippine Sea, a cruiser, launched a total of 47 Tomahawk missiles.
$70 Billion Stealth Jet Finally Flies in Its First War|Dave Majumdar|September 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
You see people in war paint or doing the tomahawk chop and saying, “Scalp him.”
Amanda Blackhorse Is ‘Confident’ Snyder Will Lose His Redskins Appeal|Robert Silverman|June 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Brown supporters at one rally mocked her with tomahawk chops and war cries.
Three Wild Races for Women: Warren, Hassan Win; McMahon Takes Pricey Hit|Abigail Pesta|November 7, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Or what America was doing with its Tomahawk missile strikes that frequently ended up killing civilians.
America's Deadly Terror 'Pipeline'|Eliza Griswold|August 6, 2010|DAILY BEAST

He lay on the ground without moving, or apparently breathing, his tomahawk still held in his death-grasp.
A Voyage round the World|W.H.G. Kingston
The group is composed of an American Hunter, in the act of seizing an Indian who was about to tomahawk a mother and her infant.
The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 2, September, 1851|Various
He had his gun, knife, and tomahawk,—all the weapons he could carry and all that were possibly needed.
Camp-fire and Wigwam|Edward Sylvester Ellis
My plan was of to build a buttress of loose stone on which to stand to tap it with the tomahawk.
Tropic Days|E. J. Banfield
He at once set to work to help me, but months passed away ere the great wound made by the tomahawk healed up.
Three Boys in the Wild North Land|Egerton Ryerson Young

British Dictionary definitions for tomahawk

tomahawk

/ (ˈtɒməˌhɔːk) /

noun

a fighting axe, with a stone or later an iron head, used by the North American Indians

mainly Australian the usual word for hatchet

Word Origin for tomahawk

C17: from Virginia Algonquian tamahaac

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

tomahawk

noun

verb (used with object)

Words related to tomahawk

Words nearby tomahawk

Origin of tomahawk

OTHER WORDS FROM tomahawk

Examples from the Web for tomahawk

British Dictionary definitions for tomahawk

noun

Word Origin for tomahawk