: a digging and grubbing tool with features of an adze and an ax or pick
Illustration of mattock
Examples of mattock in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebShovels, picks or mattocks, and a wheelbarrow are best for clearing the ground.—Nevin Martell, Washington Post, 19 July 2023 The mattock’s two ends can dig earth and tear roots.—Noah Robertson, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 May 2022 Use a mattock to create a trench for mass planting.—Adrian Higgins, Washington Post, 20 Sep. 2021 Hacking through thorny multiflora rose to get to stubborn bittersweet roots, then heaving a mattock into the earth to pull them up, can be exhausting.—Stephanie Foo, Curbed, 11 Aug. 2021 For the gardener in your life, buy a five-gallon bucket and fill it with Felco pruners and a blade sharpener, root saw, folding pruning saw, weeder, soil scoop or trowel, mattock, garden tape, scissors and pliable garden gloves.—oregonlive, 16 Dec. 2020 My preferred tool for planting in tight spots is the mattock, especially if the soil is on the poor side.—Adrian Higgins, Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2020 On that night at the Hinterkaifeck farmstead, the farmer, his wife, their widowed daughter, two grandchildren aged 7 and 2, and the family maid, all were killed with a mattock, or pickaxe.—Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 28 Jan. 2018 Start by using a shovel or garden mattock to remove any rocks from around the base of the stump.—Joseph Truini, Popular Mechanics, 1 Apr. 2015
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mattock.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English mattok, from Old English mattuc
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of mattock was
before the 12th century
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