tomahawk

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noun

1. The BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM), a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile with stubby wings, which can be launched from a ship or submarine.

   “U.S. Navy surface ships launching Tomahawks against Chinese targets would thus have to approach within China's antiship-missile perimeter to bring their missiles in range (more on this in chapter 4).”

verb

Etymology: From an Eastern Algonquian word, most likely Powhatan tumahák; compare also Malecite-Passamaquoddy tomhikon (“axe”), Abenaki temahigan, demahigan (“axe”).

1. To strike or cut up with a tomahawk.

   “In a moment the savage wretches dashed at him, and "tomahawked" the unfortunate man, who fell backwards into his cabin.”

   “Not satisfied with tomahawking our colleagues in the country, they ask the scanty remnant in the House to join in the scalp dance.”

2. To girdle or incise the trees around (an area of land) so as to claim ownership of it.

   “He was the owner of 1,300 acres of land bought from the government and located where the city of Lexington, Ky., now stands. After his marriage he tomahawked an area of 600 acres near Carmichaelstown, […]”

   “Meantime, Silas Zane passed on and came to the forks, and admiring the locality, he tomahawked his right to it, securing one thousand acres.”

3. To perform a tomahawk dunk.

   “When the league held its first slam-dunk contest in 1984 in Denver, Nance, then a Phoenix Sun, soared into the rafters with a basketball in each hand and tomahawked each one through the net before floating back to earth […]”