mattock Hear it!

mattock definition

mat·tock (mat′ək)

noun

a tool for loosening the soil, digging up and cutting roots, etc.: it is like a pickax but has a flat, adz-shaped blade on one or both sides

Etymology: ME mattok < OE mattuc < VL *mattiuca < *mattea, back-form. < L mateola, dim. < *matea < IE base *mat-, hoe, club > Sans matyá-, a harrow

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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