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Glite Dictionary
meat cleaver

meat cleaver

6 2.7
A large heavy knife with a wide rectangular blade used to cut meat and bones
  • noun
  • /miːt ˈklivər/
translation icon : cuchillo de carnicero
  • Unless you're handy with a meat cleaver, which I personally am not.
  • a meat cleaver and knife
  • grabbed a meat cleaver
  • meat cleaver in his hand

And I took AI took a meat cleaver into school into the college one day.

Examples

  • I thought his weapon of choice was the meat cleaver.

    Blog text (4)

  • Hand her a meat cleaver!

    Blog text (2)

  • ... with a meat cleaver.

    House of 1000 Corpses (2003)

  • Chester hands Ted the meat cleaver.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The short-order cook in a hairnet charges out of the kitchen at Mickey, wielding a meat cleaver and screaming.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • I take a break from this wonderful way to start off the day, check out the crowd surging in at 125th Street, just in case that one lone nut with the meat cleaver is working this morning.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The butcher used a meat cleaver to chop through the thick bones.

  • To prepare the roast, she grabbed a meat cleaver from the kitchen drawer.

  • He watched as the chef skillfully sliced the meat with a meat cleaver.

Synonyms

cleaver
vsmeat cleaver
28 3.5

A heavy knife with a large square blade used by butchers to cut meat and bone

is the specific term highlighting rectangular blade and bone cutting
butcher knife
vsmeat cleaver
13 3.2

A large sharp knife used for cutting meat

is focused on heavy bone cutting and rectangular blade use rather than trimming
chopper
vsmeat cleaver
  • US
7 4.5

A large heavy knife with a wide square blade for cutting meat

focuses more on a rectangular blade and bone splitting
chopping knife
vsmeat cleaver
1 2.8

A large heavy knife for chopping meat and vegetables

is more for cutting through bone not just mincing or general chopping
chopper knife
vsmeat cleaver
  • US
4.9

A large heavy knife with a wide blade for cutting meat and vegetables

is mainly for heavy meat cutting and bones rather than general food prep

How Large

meat cleaver
6 2.7
butcher knife
13 3.2
knife
  • NSFW
∞ 1.0
paring knife
5 3.2

Surface Forms

meat cleaver singular
meat cleavers plural

Morphology

meat + cleaver

The compound 'meat cleaver' is directly interpretable as a cleaver used for cutting meat — its meaning is a straightforward combination of 'meat' + 'cleaver'. This noun‑noun compounding pattern is common and cross‑linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily understand it.

Etymology

Meat cleaver is a simple name for the heavy, rectangular knife butchers use to chop large pieces of meat and cut through bone. The word cleaver suggests 'to split', so the name helps you remember it is a strong tool for chopping and splitting meat and bones.