machete
nounverbattested in dialogue
- //məˈʃɛ.ti//
- //məˈt͡ʃɛ.ti//
- //məˈt͡ʃɛ.teɪ//
A sword-like tool used for cutting large plants with a chopping motion, or used as a weapon.
noun
- 1
A sword-like tool used for cutting large plants with a chopping motion, or used as a weapon.
Near-synonyms: (all sometimes or regionally synonymous) bolo, golok, panga, parang, sundang
It breaks loose one rope at a time, haphazardly, tossing the Filipinos up into the air. A boy with a machete cuts the one remaining line, which pops up and lashes him across the face.
- 2
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.
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.
verb
- 1
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.
Forms
- plural
- machetes
- past tense
- macheted
- past participle
- macheted
- present participle
- macheteing
- third person singular
- machetes
machete · A sword-like tool used for cutting large plants with a chopping motion, or used as a weapon.
machine · A device that directs and controls energy, often in the form…machinery · The machines constituting a production apparatus, in a plant…macho · Masculine in an overly assertive or aggressive way. Very…