A short, broad, curved sword formerly used especially by sailors and soldiers for close combat.
From French 'coutelas' or Spanish 'cutela', ultimately from Latin 'cultellus' meaning a small knife. The variant spelling 'cutlass' became more standard, but 'cutlash' persists as an older form.
The cutlash's curved blade wasn't just for show—the curve let sailors and soldiers put more cutting force into horizontal slashes in the confined spaces of a ship's deck or between soldiers in close formation.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.