hatchet

[ hach-it ]

noun

1. 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.
2. a tomahawk.
3. hatchetfish.

verb (used with object)

1. to cut, destroy, kill, etc., with a hatchet.
2. to abridge, delete, excise, etc.:

   The network censor may hatchet 30 minutes from the script.

hatchet

/ ˈhætʃɪt /

noun

1. a short axe used for chopping wood, etc
2. a tomahawk
3. modifier of narrow dimensions and sharp features

   a hatchet face

4. bury the hatchet
   to cease hostilities and become reconciled

Derived Forms

• ˈhatchet-ˌlike, adjective

Other Words From

• hatchet·like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of hatchet¹

1300–50; 1670–80, Americanism hatchet fordef 6; Middle English hachet < Middle French hachette, diminutive ( -et ) of hache ax < Frankish *hapja kind of knife; akin to Greek kóptein to cut ( comma, syncope )

Word History and Origins

Origin of hatchet¹

C14: from Old French hachette, from hache axe, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German happa knife

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. bury the hatchet, to become reconciled or reunited; make peace.
2. 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.

More idioms and phrases containing hatchet

• bury the hatchet

Example Sentences

It’s tempting to bring extra clothing, water bottles, hatchets, and more, but if there’s a chance you might not use them, it’s not worth carrying them around on your back.

From Popular-Science

This is a subject that people tend to have pretty strong opinions about, so please don’t think I’m so insane as to attempt a detailed stacking guide for Outside, only to have the woodsmansplainers bust out their hatchets.

From Outside Online

In a room on the right, Mono finds a hatchet that’s just about as long as he is tall.

From Washington Post

At the Sussex County Courthouse in Georgetown, political rivals literally bury the hatchet.

From Washington Post

Prosecutors claim that Silento walked into a stranger’s home in Los Angeles that was unlocked on Saturday and then began swinging a hatchet at two people.

From Essence.com

The conviction of the man known as The Hatchet, infamous for filming himself torturing gay people, is good news.

From The Daily Beast

This is not a hatchet job, and it certainly could have been.

From The Daily Beast

From Kimmel and Kanye burying the hatchet to a telekinetic coffee shop surprise, WATCH our countdown.

From The Daily Beast

And, he added, a mayor would be foolish to attempt to “take a hatchet to the financial industry.”

From The Daily Beast

According to the police report, officers also found a Taser and a hatchet in the house.

From The Daily Beast

The formation of an axe or hatchet, however crude it may have been, would naturally lead to another step in advance.

From Project Gutenberg

He had the hatchet face of the clever Yankee, alert, sharply defined, with a high-bridged and rather bold English nose.

From Project Gutenberg

To be sure, he might kill the dog with the hatchet, but such butchery was repugnant to him, and he quickly dismissed the idea.

From Project Gutenberg

It is not rare to find in primitive submarine formations these singular kinds of passages, which seem cut out with a hatchet.

From Project Gutenberg

The planking had been sawed, the timber cut with the hatchet, the ironwork with a file, the sheathing with the chisel.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• machete