1894 Brewer’s / H / Hatchet
[Greek axinē, Latin ascia, Italian accetta, French hachette, our hatchet and axe.)
To bury the hatchet. (See Bury.)
To throw the hatchet. To tell false-hoods. In allusion to an ancient game where hatchets were thrown at a mark, like quoits. It means the same as drawing the long-bow (q.v.).
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.