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)

(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 57395299:
  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.
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
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)

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