cutlass
/ˈkʌtləs/ noun, verb
Forms cutlasses cutlassing cutlassed
- noun (nautical) A short sword with a curved blade, and a convex edge; once used by sailors when boarding an enemy ship.
- noun A similarly shaped tool; a machete.
- verb (transitive) To cut back (vegetation) with a cutlass.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle French coutelas, from Old French coutel (“knife”) + -as (augmentative suffix).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A short, heavy, curving sword, used in the navy. See Curtal ax. Cutlass fish, (Zoöl.), a peculiar, long, thin, marine fish (Trichirus lepturus) of the southern United States and West Indies; --called also saber fish, silver eel, and, improperly, swordfish.
Etymology [F. coutelas (cf. It. coltellaccio), augm. fr. L. cuttellus a smallknife, dim. of culter knife. See Colter, and cf. Curtal ax.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cutlass”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details