cutlass

English

Etymology

From Middle French coutelas, from Old French coutel (“knife”) + -as (augmentative suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌtləs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

cutlass (plural cutlasses)

1. (nautical) A short sword with a curved blade, and a convex edge; once used by sailors when boarding an enemy ship.
   • 2015 September 1, Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows, →ISBN:

     She could feel Tern’s stare fixed right between her shoulder blades, and knew he was aching to plunge his cutlass there.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XII, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     In vain the captain threatened to throw him overboard; suspended a cutlass over his naked wrists; Queequeg was the son of a King, and Queequeg budged not.

2. A similarly shaped tool; a machete.

Synonyms

• cuttoe
• hanger
• short sabre

Derived terms

• cutlassfish
• cutlass bearing

Translations

a short sword with a curved blade

• Bulgarian: аборда́жна са́бя f (abordážna sábja)
• Catalan: alfange m, sabre (ca) m
• Dutch: hartsvanger (nl)
• Finnish: hukari
• French: sabre d’abordage (fr) m
• German: Entermesser (de) n
• Hebrew: חֶרֶב מַלָּחִים (he) m (kherev malakhim)
• Hungarian: szablya (hu)
• Japanese: カットラス (kattorasu)
• Macedonian: са́бја f (sábja), аборда́жна са́бја f (abordážna sábja)
• Manx: cliwe marrey m
• Norwegian: huggert
• Plautdietsch: Säbel m
• Polish: kord (pl) m
• Portuguese: alfanje (pt) m, cutelo (pt) m
• Russian: са́бля (ru) f (sáblja), аборда́жная са́бля f (abordážnaja sáblja), теса́к (ru) m (tesák)
• Spanish: sable (es) m
• Swahili: mundu
• Swedish: huggare (sv) c
• Welsh: cleddyf cwta m, cleddyfau cwta m pl

machete — see machete

Verb

cutlass (third-person singular simple present cutlasses, present participle cutlassing, simple past and past participle cutlassed)

1. (transitive) To cut back (vegetation) with a cutlass.