hatchet man
noun
Forms hatchet men hatchetman hatchet-man
- noun A male professional killer or gunman. “The crime lord dispatched his favorite hatchet man to make sure the witness would not testify.”
- noun (US, historical) A male hatchet-wielding participant in a Chinese-American tong war.
- noun (colloquial, idiomatic) A male who carries out brutal and unpleasant duties on behalf of another, such as firing dead wood employees. “After the layoffs, he gained a reputation as a hatchet man and ended up eating lunches alone.”
Synonyms
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “hatchet man”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details