machete
/məˈʃɛ.ti/ noun, verb
Forms machetes macheteing macheted
- noun A sword-like tool used for cutting large plants with a chopping motion, or used as a weapon.
- noun A small stringed instrument from Madeira, Portugal, having a double bulged body, traditionally of wood, with a small rib and four metallic strings, sometimes attached by wooden pegs.
- verb (transitive) To cut or chop with a machete. “After some hours of intense work, we had macheted a path through the jungle to the bank of the river.”
Synonyms
Etymology
From Spanish machete, diminutive of macho (“sledgehammer”), from Latin mattea, possibly from mactare (“slaughter in sacrifice”); cognate with Old French machier, French massue, English mace.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A large heavy knife resembling a broadsword, often two or three feet in length, --used by the inhabitants of Spanish America as a hatchet to cut their way through thickets, and for various other purposes. J. Stevens.
Etymology [Sp.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “machete”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details