take up the hatchet
English edit
Etymology edit
Referring to Native Americans' use of the tomahawk.
Verb edit
take up the hatchet (third-person singular simple present takes up the hatchet, present participle taking up the hatchet, simple past took up the hatchet, past participle taken up the hatchet)
- (idiomatic, archaic) To declare war or go to war.
- Antonym: bury the hatchet
Translations edit
to make or declare war
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References edit
- “hatchet”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.