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Glite Dictionary
🎯 To ambush 🌳 To clear a path 🏞️ To hide out
to bushwhack

to bushwhack

1 9.9
To live secretly in a forest to avoid the police
  • verb
  • /ˈbʊʃˌwæk/
  • Archaic
translation icon : vivir en la selva
  • The group planned to bushwhack their way to the campsite rather than use the marked trails.

Examples

  • Man, I'm feeling weak, really bushwhacked.

    Land of the Lost (2009)

  • Once we're in enemy territory, as a bushwhacking guerrilla army, we're going to be doing one thing and one thing only.

    Inglourious Basterds (2009)

  • If you've ever bushwhacked to the top of Whitewall Mountain, then you know that you can get a bit of a view of this unnamed pond by standing at just the right spot.

    Blog text (20)

  • To avoid detection, they decided to bushwhack along the riverbank, moving quietly through the trees.

  • During their retreat, the soldiers had to bushwhack through the dense forest to evade their pursuers.

Antonyms

to settle
463 2.5

To live in a place, often for a long time

Surface Forms

bushwhack infinitive
bushwhacked past
bushwhacked past participle
bushwhacking present participle
bushwhacks third person singular

Morphology

bushwhack = bush + whack (semi-transparent) = bush + whack

Formed from 'bush' + 'whack', but the sense 'to live in the bush as a guerrilla' is an extended activity-related meaning rather than a direct literal composition.

Etymology

Bushwhack comes from bush ('thick woods') and whack ('to hit' or 'strike'), and it was used for fighters who lived, hid, and fought from the woods to avoid soldiers. So, to bushwhack in this sense is to live in the bush as a fugitive or guerrilla.