noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 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. 2
   a short heavy curved sword with one edge; formerly used by sailors wordnet
3. 3
   A similarly shaped tool; a machete.

Verb

1. 1
   To cut back (vegetation) with a cutlass. transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms

bladecutlascutlascuttoecuttoefoil

Example

More examples

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

Etymology

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

Related phrases

cutlass bearing

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.