adze

American  

[adz] / ædz /

Or adz

noun

1. an axlike tool, for dressing timbers roughly, with a curved, chisel-like steel head mounted at a right angle to the wooden handle.

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verb (used with object)

adzed, adzing

1. to dress or shape (wood) with an adze.

adze British  

/ ædz /

noun

1. a heavy hand tool with a steel cutting blade attached at right angles to a wooden handle, used for dressing timber

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Etymology

Origin of adze

First recorded before 900; Middle English ad(e)se, Old English adesa; of obscure origin

Example Sentences

Axes created a more symmetrical, oval fracture than the adze, for example.

From Science Magazine • Feb. 16, 2023

It’s as if she’s been carved like an archetypal totem, but with matte and glossy house paint, charcoal and oil paint on canvas rather than with a chisel or an adze from stone or wood.

From Los Angeles Times • May 31, 2022

For instance, it was Holm who in the 1960s showed the Tlingit master carver Nathan Jackson surfacing and texturing techniques with an adze.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 24, 2020

A wooden keel was shown with men of the adze and the plane.

From Slate • Jun. 20, 2020

“I have only a saw, hammer, chisel, and adze, but we are managing alright,” he reported in his diary.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

Related Words

• blade
• knife