DCHP-1 Online
tomahawk ((v.)) 
1 † v. strike with a tomahawk; kill with a tomahawk.
- 1778 (1930) Seeing by the fate of their comrades what they had to expect, the next on his left sang his death song, and was in turn tomahawked.
- 1910 In the darkness of night this wretch rose up, tomahawked the helpless women and children, and disappeared with their scalps.
- 1963 The wounded were knifed and tomahawked, the dead stripped and ripped up after the Indian fashion.
2 v. prevent bills from passing into law.
- 1832 The Legislative Council have . . . tomahawked Mr. Bidwell's bill for dividing intestate property equally among the children.
- 1836 Of 32 Bills sent up in the last 12 days, they contrived ... to "tomahawk" 21, which is equal to nearly 70 per cent.
- 1883 His Majesty's Royal assent would have been given to that bill had it not . . . fallen into company with some ruthless vagrant . . . who had slandered, abused, and tomahawked it at the foot of the throne.
3 v. Figurative uses.
- 1834 The above communication, as far as the composition is concerned, is "prose run mad," or the King's English tomahawked and scalped, in both sense and grammar.
- 1852 It seems to be the general impression that McKirdy, the innocent, is to be tomahawked [sacrificed] to save Scott, the guilty.
- 1778 (1930) Seeing by the fate of their comrades what they had to expect, the next on his left sang his death song, and was in turn tomahawked.