Definition of "adz" []

• An axlike tool with a curved blade at right angles to the handle, used for shaping wood. (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.

• "Conversely, frustrated crossword solvers encounter plenty of uncommon three-letter words, such as adz, auk and lea."
• "The accompanying labels says "One of the principal uses of the adz was in hollowing out dug-out canoes.""
• "Once, this was a stout ship, with oak futtocks and floor timbers, fastened with iron nails, built with saw and adz and the calloused hands of shipwrights now long dead."