- a fighting axe, with a stone or later an iron head, used by the Native Americans
- chiefly Austral
the usual word for hatchet
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
tom•a•hawk /ˈtɑməˌhɔk/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
v. [~ + object]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Anthropologya light ax used by American Indians as a weapon or tool.
- any similar weapon or implement.
v. [~ + object]
- to attack, wound, or kill with or as if with a tomahawk.
tom•a•hawk
(tom′ə hôk′),USA pronunciation n.
v.t.
tom ′a•hawk′er, n.
- a light ax used by the North American Indians as a weapon and tool.
- any of various similar weapons or implements.
- (in Australia) a stone hatchet used by the Aborigines.
v.t.
- to attack, wound, or kill with or as if with a tomahawk.
- Virginia Algonquian (English spelling, spelled) tamahaac hatchet (equivalent. to Proto-Algonquian *temah- to cut (it) off + *-a·kan- instrument for)
- 1605–15
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
tomahawk /ˈtɒməˌhɔːk/ n
'tomahawk' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):