machete

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a large heavy knife used for cutting vegetation or as a weapon

   The guide used a machete to clear vines from the trail.

2. 2
   verb

   to cut or chop with a machete

   Workers macheted a path through the dense brush.

From Spanish machete, a diminutive of macho (sledgehammer), ultimately linked with Latin mattea and possibly mactare (to slaughter in sacrifice).

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