Dictionary

break-axe en · NOUN

Etymology

Calque of Spanish quebracho

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A South American hardwood, Sloanea jamaicensis
   • Quebracho wood derives its name from two Spanish words, "quebrar" to break and "hache" an axe, and this break-axe wood is one of the heaviest and hardest known, weighing some 85 pounds to the cubic foot, or over l/3 more than water, and "playing ducks and drakes" with axes, saws and other cutting tools. 1948, Joseph Earle Stevens, A Tale of two trees: Logwood & Quebracho, page 41:
   • The quiebra hacha is the celerated break-axe tree, noted for its durability. 1853, James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow, R. G. Barnwell, Edwin Bell, Debow's Review - Volume 14, page 100:
   • For strength and hardness, for towering height and size, the break-axe may be called the king of the Cuba forest. 1832, The Juvenile Miscellany, page 207:

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