bury the hatchet
1. To make peace with someone. Can you please bury the hatchet and make up with your sister already? I can't take the constant fighting. A: "Do you think Mom and Aunt Judy will bury the hatchet before we go away on vacation together?" B: "I hope so. If not, it'll be super awkward for all of us!" Life is too short, guys, come on. Bury the hatchet.
2. slang To accidentally leave medical instruments inside a patient after surgery. The surgeons have a strict protocol to avoid burying the hatchet, so to speak. If they do an autopsy on this woman and find that you buried the hatchet, her family is going to sue us for every penny we're worth! No, I didn't bury the hatchet exactly—but I did apparently leave a towel in the patient before closing her up.
do a hatchet job on (someone or something)
To make a very critical attack on someone or something, especially through media outlets. The movie critic did a real hatchet job on the new film in this week's paper. Of course that guy would do a hatchet job on our company—we're competitors, and he's trying to drum up business for himself. Why did that actress use her interview to do a hatchet job on her ex? She had to know that would make her look bad.
give pap with a hatchet
To act or seem as though one is doing something with good or kind intentions when, really, the opposite is true. To "give pap" means for a mother to comfort an infant with her nipple—an intentional juxtaposition with the sharp and dangerous "hatchet." I thought Lauren wanted to be my friend, but then I found out she only invited me to sit at her table to make fun of me. Talk about giving pap with a hatchet! A: "Why is Tony being so nice to me all of a sudden?" B: "I wouldn't trust that jerk. I bet he's giving pap with a hatchet." Wow, that was really mean of her. I thought we were close and never knew expected to give pap with a hatchet like that!
hang up (one's) hatchet
1. To make peace with someone. It is most likely an earlier version of the phrase "bury the hatchet." Can you please hang up your hatchet and make up with your sister already? I can't take the constant fighting. A: "Do you think Mom and Aunt Judy will hang up their hatchet before we go away on vacation together?" B: "I hope so. If not, it'll be super awkward for all of us!" Life is too short, man, come on. Hang up your hatchet with Mike already.
2. To take a break from work; to stop working. Hang up your hatchet, buddy, it's lunchtime! It's really time for me to hang up my hatchet and find a new job somewhere else. He's always cranky after work anymore. He really needs to hang up his hatchet.
hatchet face
A long, thing or gaunt face with particularly sharp features. Instead of being self-conscious about my hatchet face, I've learned to embrace it and find styles that suit its rather angular characteristics. With the character being described as "bird-like," Tom's hatchet face proved perfect the part. You could be an editorial model with that hatchet face of yours. Photographers love having interesting angles to work with.
hatchet job
A very critical attack on someone or something, especially through media outlets. The movie critic did a real hatchet job on the new film in last week's paper. Of course that guy would do a hatchet job on our company—we're competitors, and he's trying to drum up business for himself. Why did that actress use her interview to do a hatchet job on her ex? She had to know that would make her look bad.
hatchet man
A person hired by a company to make sweeping changes to save money, usually by reducing staff. We knew our days were numbered when our company brought in a hatchet man to make cuts to the staff. Look, if you don't want to bring in a hatchet man, you might as well shut the company down now, because it is just hemorrhaging money. OK, say this consultant guy is really a hatchet man. How bad do you think the layoffs will be?
send the helve after the hatchet
To make hasty, careless decisions; to discard something after encountering a setback. The image alludes to throwing away the handle ("helve") of a hatchet after the blade has broken off. Come on, I'm sure we can fix it—don't send the helve after the hatchet. My little brother always gives up at the slightest problem, no matter how many times we remind him not to send the helve after the hatchet.
take up the hatchet
To fight, especially in a violent manner. The feud has lasted for so long that neither family remembers why they took up the hatchet against the other.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
bury the hatchet
Fig. to make peace. Let's stop arguing and bury the hatchet. Tom and I buried the hatchet and we are good friends now.
hatchet man
a man who does the cruel or difficult things for someone else; someone who does someone else's dirty work. He served as the president's hatchet man and ended up doing all the dirty work.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
bury 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.
hatchet man
1. A person assigned or hired to carry out a disagreeable task or unscrupulous order. For example, When it came to firing an employee, Arthur was his boss's hatchet man. This expression originally referred to a hired assassin but in the mid-1900s was transferred to less nefarious enterprises.
2. A person who attacks the reputation of others, especially a journalist hired to do so, as in You can count on Mary's column to destroy the mayor-she's the perfect hatchet man. This usage gave rise to hatchet job, meaning "harsh destructive criticism." [Mid-1900s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
bury the hatchet
When people who have argued bury the hatchet, they agree to forget their argument and become friends again. Note: A hatchet is a small axe. They had finally buried the hatchet after their falling-out. Note: In the past, when Native American tribes made peace after fighting each other, it was traditional for each tribe to bury a tomahawk or small axe, as a sign of peace.
a hatchet job
INFORMALA hatchet job is strong, unfair, often public criticism which harms someone's reputation. Note: A hatchet is a small axe. The reporter set out to do a hatchet job on him and succeeded. The rest of the article is basically a hatchet job on the minister. Note: This expression may relate to violent gang warfare in the United States during the early part of the 20th century. See explanation at `a hatchet man'.
a hatchet man
INFORMALA hatchet man is someone who is employed to do unpleasant tasks, especially to get rid of jobs in a company. Note: A hatchet is a small axe. Hall, they reckoned, was a hatchet man, out to shred the workforce and totally crush the union. Note: A woman who does a similar job can be called a hatchet woman. She had a reputation for being a ruthless hatchet woman. Note: This expression is usually used to show disapproval. Note: This expression may relate to violent gang warfare in the United States during the early part of the 20th century. Gangs often hired an assassin or `hatchet man' to hack an important member of a rival gang to death with a hatchet. This work was known as a `hatchet job'.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
bury the hatchet
end a quarrel or conflict and become friendly. This expression makes reference to a Native American custom of burying a hatchet or tomahawk to mark the conclusion of a peace treaty.
do a hatchet job on
criticize savagely.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
ˌbury the ˈhatchet
, ˌbury your ˈdifferences
(of two people or groups) agree to forget past disagreements and be friends again: I’ve said I’m prepared to bury the hatchet, but John says he won’t forgive me for what happened.When Native Americans agreed to end fighting and begin a period of peace they held a ceremony in which they buried a hatchet or tomahawk (= a small axe).a ˈhatchet job (on somebody/something)
(informal) strong criticism that is unfair or intended to harm somebody/something: The press did a very effective hatchet job on her last movie.In the past in the US, a hatchet man was a person who was paid to kill somebody, often using a hatchet (= a small axe). A hatchet job was originally therefore a murder.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
bury the hatchet
1. tv. to make peace. (From an alleged American Indian practice.) I’m sorry. Let’s stop arguing and bury the hatchet.
2. tv. to leave surgical instruments in the patient. (Medical.) The idea that a doctor would bury the hatchet is a very old joke.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
bury the hatchet
To stop fighting; resolve a quarrel.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
bury the hatchet, to
To make peace or call a truce. Some North American Indian tribes declared peace by burying a tomahawk, a custom described by Samuel Sewell in 1680 and referred to again in subsequent accounts of the American colonies. The term appears in Longfellow’s famous poem, “Hiawatha,” and by the end of the nineteenth century was a cliché for peacemaking on both sides of the Atlantic.
hatchet man
A person who performs nasty tasks for his or her superior, such as firing subordinates, attacking the character of a political opponent, spreading rumors about a competitor, or the like. The term, so used since the 1940s, was applied particularly in politics and journalism, and the work so performed was also called a hatchet job. The magazine Newsweek had it on July 27, 1968: “He’ll be the hatchet man . . . just like Nixon was in 1952.” It also is used in other contexts, for example, “This critic did a real hatchet job on her concert.” A related term is character assassination, dating from about 1950, but it is no longer heard as often.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
bury the hatchet
To make peace, to settle differences. The phrase comes from the practice among native American and Canadian tribes literally to bury a war axe at the end of hostilities. An 1680 report describes European colonists in what became New England: “Meeting wth ye Sachem [the tribal leaders] the[y] came to an agreemt and buried two Axes in ye Ground; which ceremony to them is more significant & binding than all Articles of Peace . . .”
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price