machete Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a large heavy knife used in Central and South America as a weapon or for cutting vegetation
    panga; matchet.

WordNet

Ma*che"te noun
Etymology
Sp.
Definitions
  1. A large heavy knife resembling a broadsword, often two or three feet in length, -- used by the inhabitants of Spanish America as a hatchet to cut their way through thickets, and for various other purposes. J. Stevens.

Webster 1913