tomahawk

plural tomahawks

1. An axe used by Native American warriors, originally made of stone, bone, or antler.

   yeerely bring into our store house, at the beginning of their haruest two bushels of corne a man […] for which they should receiue so many Iron Tomahawkes or small hatchets.

   1615, Ralph Hamor, A True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia, Richmond, published 1957, page 13

   1 more example

   At first, her presence was not observed; but, no sooner did the stranger catch a glimpse of her person, than he stopped, raised his hands in surprise, laid his rifle against a tree, and sprang forward; the girl closing her eyes, and sinking on the seat, with bowed head, expecting the blow of the deadly tomahawk.

   1843, [James Fenimore Cooper], Wyandotté, or The Hutted Knoll. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, →OCLC, page 178

   Synonyms: hatchet

2. ball gamesA dunk performed with one's arm behind one's head.
3. geometryA geometric construction consisting of a semicircle and two line segments that serves as a tool for trisecting an angle; so called from its resemblance to the American Indian axe.
4. field hockeyA field hockey shot style that involves a player turning their hockey stick upside-down and swinging it so that its inside edge will come into contact with the ball.

present singular third person tomahawks · participle present tomahawking · participle past tomahawked · past tomahawked

1. transitiveTo strike or cut up with a tomahawk.

   In a moment the savage wretches dashed at him, and "tomahawked" the unfortunate man, who fell backwards into his cabin.

   1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 296

   1 more example

   Not satisfied with tomahawking our colleagues in the country, they ask the scanty remnant in the House to join in the scalp dance.

   1906, FE Smith, maiden speech to House of Commons, 12 Mar 1906

2. historicaltransitiveTo girdle or incise the trees around (an area of land) so as to claim ownership of it.

   Meantime, Silas Zane passed on and came to the forks, and admiring the locality, he tomahawked his right to it, securing one thousand acres.

   1915, Chronicles of the Cochrans: Being a Series of Historical Events and Narratives, in which Members of this Family Have Played a Prominent Part, page 55

   3 more examples

   He was the owner of 1,300 acres of land bought from the government and located where the city of Lexington, Ky., now stands. After his marriage he tomahawked an area of 600 acres near Carmichaelstown, […]

   1909, Samuel Gordon Smyth, A Genealogy of the Duke-Shepherd-Van Metre Family: From Civil, Military, Church and Family Records and Documents, page 67

   The Germans thought that by just tomahawking a claim and living on it, it was an "improvement" and that was sufficient for claim; but not so with the Land Office. The land had to be legally registered and taxes paid on it […]

   1993, H. Austin Cooper, Two Centuries of Brothersvalley Church of the Brethren, 1762-1962: An Account of the Old Colonial Church, the Stony Creek German Baptist Church and the Area of Bruedersthal in which the Brethren Settled in the Summer of 1762, and Organized by Elder George Adam Martin, Presiding Elder

   They tomahawked the land they settled on and were joined by other settlers. Each settler picked out the piece of land that he or, in some instances, she desired which resulted in oddly shaped plats when they were later surveyed.

   2011, Don Corbly, Pastor John Corbly and his neighbors in Greene Township, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 23

3. transitiveball gamesTo perform a tomahawk dunk.

   When the league held its first slam-dunk contest in 1984 in Denver, Nance, then a Phoenix Sun, soared into the rafters with a basketball in each hand and tomahawked each one through the net before floating back to earth […]

   2007, Bob Dyer, The Top 20 Moments in Cleveland Sports, page 237

plural Tomahawks

1. governmentThe BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM), a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile with stubby wings, which can be launched from a ship or submarine.

   U.S. Navy surface ships launching Tomahawks against Chinese targets would thus have to approach within China's antiship-missile perimeter to bring their missiles in range (more on this in chapter 4).

   2022, Robert J Haddick, Fire on the Water: China, America, and the Future of the Pacific, second edition, Naval Institute Press, →ISBN, page 69

1. A place name:
   1. A rural locality in Dorset council area, north-east Tasmania, Australia.
   2. A hamlet in Parkland County, Alberta, Canada.
   3. A township in Searcy County, Arkansas.
   4. An unincorporated community in Martin County, Kentucky.
   5. An unincorporated community in Berkeley County, West Virginia.
   6. A city in Lincoln County, Wisconsin.
   7. A town in Lincoln County, Wisconsin, adjacent to the city.