tomahawk
tomahawk Lexical Profile
tomahawk Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A light, single-handed axe traditionally used as a tool and hand-to-hand or thrown implement by Indigenous peoples of North America.
"The museum exhibit featured an early eighteenth-century tomahawk with an intricately carved wooden handle."
A thick ribeye beef steak cut with a long, French-trimmed rib bone left attached, resembling the handle of an axe.
"For the anniversary dinner, the chef prepared a dry-aged tomahawk seared in a cast-iron skillet."
• verb
To strike, cut, or chop with a tomahawk.
"The frontiersman had to tomahawk his way through the dense, tangled brush to clear a narrow trail."
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the early 17th century from Powhatan (an Algonquian language of Virginia) tamahaac, derived from the Proto-Algonquian root *temah- meaning 'to cut off by tool'.