Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- a small, short-handled ax having the end of the head opposite the blade in the form of a hammer, made to be used with one hand.
- a tomahawk.
- hatchetfish.
verb (used with object)
- to cut, destroy, kill, etc., with a hatchet.
- to abridge, delete, excise, etc.: The network censor may hatchet 30 minutes from the script.
- bury the hatchet, to become reconciled or reunited; make peace.
- take up the hatchet, to begin or resume hostilities; prepare for or go to war: The natives are taking up the hatchet against the enemy.
verb (used with object), bur·ied, bur·y·ing.
- to put in the ground and cover with earth: The pirates buried the chest on the island.
- to put (a corpse) in the ground or a vault, or into the sea, often with ceremony: They buried the sailor with full military honors.
- to plunge in deeply; cause to sink in: to bury an arrow in a target.
- to cover in order to conceal from sight: She buried the card in the deck.
- to immerse (oneself): He buried himself in his work.
- to put out of one’s mind: to bury an insult.
- to consign to obscurity; cause to appear insignificant by assigning to an unimportant location, position, etc.: Her name was buried in small print at the end of the book.
noun, plural bur·ies.
- Nautical. housing1(def 8a, b).
- bury one’s head in the sand, to avoid reality; ignore the facts of a situation: You cannot continue to bury your head in the sand—you must learn to face facts.
- bury the hatchet, to become reconciled or reunited.
noun
- a town in NW England, in Bury unitary authority, Greater Manchester: an early textile centre. Pop: 60 178 (2001)
- a unitary authority in NW England, in Greater Manchester. Pop: 181 900 (2003 est). Area: 99 sq km (38 sq miles)
verb buries, burying or buried (tr)
- to place (a corpse) in a grave, usually with funeral rites; inter
- to place in the earth and cover with soil
- to lose through death
- to cover from sight; hide
- to embed; sinkto bury a nail in plaster
- to occupy (oneself) with deep concentration; engrossto be buried in a book
- to dismiss from the mind; abandonto bury old hatreds
- bury the hatchet to cease hostilities and become reconciled
- bury one’s head in the sand to refuse to face a problem
noun
- a short axe used for chopping wood, etc
- a tomahawk
- (modifier) of narrow dimensions and sharp featuresa hatchet face
- bury the hatchet to cease hostilities and become reconciled
Old English byrgan “to raise a mound, hide, bury, inter,” akin to beorgan “to shelter,” from Proto-Germanic *burzjan- “protection, shelter” (cf. Old Saxon bergan, Dutch bergen, Old Norse bjarga, Swedish berga, Old High German bergan “protect, shelter, conceal,” German bergen, Gothic bairgan “to save, preserve”), from PIE root *bhergh- “protect, preserve” (cf. Old Church Slavonic brego “I preserve, guard”). Related: Buried; burying. Burying-ground “cemetery” attested from 1711.
The Old English -y- was a short “oo” sound, like modern French -u-. Under normal circumstances it transformed into Modern English -i- (e.g. bridge, kiss, listen, sister), but in bury and a few other words (e.g. merry, knell) it retained a Kentish change to “e” that took place in the late Old English period. In the West Midlands, meanwhile, the Old English -y- sound persisted, slightly modified over time, giving the standard modern pronunciation of blush, much, church.
c.1300 “small ax” (mid-12c. in surnames), from Old French hachete, diminutive of hache “ax, battle-axe, pickaxe,” possibly from Frankish *happja or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *hæbijo (cf. Old High German happa “sickle, scythe”), from PIE root *kop- “to beat, strike” (cf. Greek kopis “knife;” Lithuanian kaplys “hatchet,” kapoti “cut small;” Old Church Slavonic skopiti “castrate”).
In Middle English, hatch itself was used in a sense “battle-axe.” In 14c., hang up (one’s) hatchet meant “stop what one is doing.” Phrase bury the hatchet (1794) is from a supposed Native American peacemaking custom. Hatchet-man was originally California slang for “hired Chinese assassin” (1880), later extended figuratively to journalists who attacked the reputation of a public figure (1944).
To agree to end a quarrel: “Jerry and Cindy had been avoiding each other since the divorce, but I saw them together this morning, so they must have buried the hatchet.”
Make peace; settle one’s differences. For example, Toward the end of the year, the roommates finally decided to bury the hatchet. Although some believe this term comes from a Native American custom for declaring peace between warring tribes, others say it comes from hang up one’s hatchet, a term dating from the early 1300s (well before Columbus landed in the New World). The word bury replaced hang up in the 1700s.
In addition to the idioms beginning with hatchet
- hatchet job
- hatchet man
also see:
- bury the hatchet