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Definition of "cutlass" [cut•lass]

  • A short heavy sword with a curved single-edged blade, once used as a weapon by sailors. (noun)
  • Caribbean A machete. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "cutlass" in a sentence
  • "The cutlass was a clumsy weapon, but sea fighting was hardly a fine art."
  • "A sword hanging on slings could be a hindrance, would strike against obstructions, and the cutlass was a handier weapon for what he contemplated."
  • "In the literature of the eighteenth century the warrant is inseparably associated with the short, incurvated service sword commonly known as the cutlass or hanger; but in the press-gang prints of the period the gangsmen are generally armed with stout clubs answering to Smollett's"