What does "cutlass" mean?

A short sword with a curved blade, and a convex edge; once used by sailors when boarding an enemy ship.

Cutlass

Common synonyms include: blade, coercive instrument, cutlas, cuttoe, decisive action, draconian measure.

/ˈkʌtləs/ noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A short sword with a curved blade, and a convex edge; once used by sailors when boarding an enemy ship.
"She could feel Tern’s stare fixed right between her shoulder blades, and knew he was aching to plunge his cutlass there."
2
a short heavy curved sword with one edge; formerly used by sailors wordnet
3
A similarly shaped tool; a machete.

Verb

"Craigengelt drew his cutlass an inch or two, and then returned it with violence into the scabbard."

From Middle French coutelas, from Old French coutel (“knife”) + -as (augmentative suffix).