hatchet en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈhæt͡ʃɪt/
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
From Middle English hachet, a borrowing from Old French hachete, diminutive of hache (“axe”), from Vulgar Latin *happia, from Frankish *happjā, from Proto-Germanic *hapjǭ, *habjǭ (“knife”), from Proto-Indo-European *kop- (“to strike, to beat”). Cognate with Old High German happa, heppa, habba (“reaper, sickle”), German Hippe (“billhook”), Dutch heep, hiep (“billhook”), and Ancient Greek κοπίς (kopís). Mostly displaced native Old English handæx, whence Modern English hand axe.
Meanings
-
A small, light axe with a short handle; a tomahawk.
The fellow was armed with a stone-shod spear, a stone knife and a hatchet. In his black hair were several gay-colored feathers.
1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter III, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, part I, number 11, New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, February 1927, →OCLC, book I, page 1158:Buried was the bloody hatchet, / Buried was the dreadful war-club, / Buried were all warlike weapons, / And the war-cry was forgotten.
1855 November 10, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Blessing the Corn-fields”, in The Song of Hiawatha, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 175:“It must be admitted, Nick, you are a very literal logician—‘dog won't eat dog,’ is our English saying. Still the Yankee will fight the Yengeese, it would seem. In a word, the Great Father, in England, has raised the hatchet against his American children.”
1843, [James Fenimore Cooper], Wyandotté, or The Hutted Knoll. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, →OCLC, page 117:The metal axe continues for a long time to be made in the less efficient shape of the stone hatchet; stone buildings and tombs are made to imitate wooden ones; as Morgan pointed out, the names of family relationships in primitive languages reflect a pattern that has ceased to exist in the society in question.
1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 203:
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(figuratively) Belligerence, animosity; harsh criticism.
hatchet job
“Dat true as missionary! What a soldier do, cap'in, if so much peace? Warrior love a war-path.” “I wish it were not so, Nick. But my hatchet is buried, I hope, for ever.”
1843, [James Fenimore Cooper], Wyandotté, or The Hutted Knoll. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, →OCLC, page 42:to bury the hatchet
The savagery with which Michael Hofmann can wield a hatchet has earned him unlikely fans outside the literary circuit. A recent issue of Viz ran a cartoon of the critic, poet and translator urinating all over a phone booth, while two donnish FR Leavis types nodded appreciatively from a safe distance.
2016 April 9, Philip Oltermann, “Michael Hofmann: ‘English is basically a trap. It’s almost a language for spies’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| hatchets | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
hatchety · hatchet wound · hatchetation · hatchet-faced · bury the hatchet · hatchetfish · hatchet man · hatchet face · take up the hatchet · hatchet job · sling the hatchet · hatchetlike · throw the hatchet
Translations (79)
ckb تەور (small axe) · sk sekera (small axe) · mzn تاشه (small axe) · cs sekerka (small axe) · tr nacak (small axe) · ang handæx (small axe) · bo སྟ་རེ (small axe) · pdt Akjs (small axe) · nl bijl (small axe) · pl toporek (small axe) · tl puthaw (small axe) · ja 斧 (small axe) · sq latë (small axe) · hu szekerce (small axe) · gl machada (small axe) · sl sekira (small axe) · cs sekera (small axe) · ru топо́рик (small axe) · ota مكشاح (small axe) · wyi karrgeen (small axe) · lo ຂວານ (small axe) · ota فاس (small axe) · gl macheta (small axe) · hi परशु (small axe) · mi pātītī (small axe) · fi pikkukirves (small axe) · oc destral (small axe) · scn cugnateḍḍa (small axe) · pt machadinha (small axe) · ga tua (small axe) · ota تبر (small axe) · mk томаха́вка (small axe) · es hacha (small axe) · bg брадвичка (small axe) · pox bordåińă (small axe) · nl handbijl (small axe) · ka ნაჯახი (small axe) · unm tëmahikànëtët (small axe) · sa परशु (small axe) · xmf არგუნი (small axe) · cy llawfwyell (small axe) · fi kirves (small axe) · ro bardă (small axe) · th ขวาน (small axe) · gl brosa (small axe) · ru топо́р (small axe) · cmn 斧子 (small axe) · mi pīauau (small axe) · ota بالطه (small axe) · gd làmh-thuagh (small axe) · ca destral (small axe) · es destral (small axe) · fo handøks (small axe) · mk се́кирче (small axe) · nv tsénił yázhí (small axe) · fo lítil øks (small axe) · yi העקל (small axe) · ca destraló (small axe) · cmn 斧頭 /斧头 (small axe) · mi pānekeneke (small axe) · tr balta (small axe) · sd ڪھاڙي (small axe) · cs sekyra (small axe) · es segureja (small axe) · de Beil (small axe) · bg томахавка (small axe) · hi तवर (small axe) · es macheta (small axe) · pdt Biel (nds) (small axe) · yol hatcheat (small axe) · fr hachette (small axe) · eo hakileto (small axe) · mi panehe (small axe) · it accetta (small axe) · fa تیشه (small axe) · ccc ame (small axe) · ru томага́вк (small axe) · la securicula (small axe) · ro toporișcă (small axe)