hatchet job

noun
a maliciously destructive critique or act: The special committee has done a hatchet job on the new proposal.
Also called ax job.


Origin:
1940–45

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To hatchet job
Collins
World English Dictionary
hatchet job
 
n
informal a malicious or devastating verbal or written attack

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
Hatchet job is always a great word to know.
So is ort. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

hatchet job

see hatchet man, def. 2.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Example sentences
What this book is, then, is a rather dull hatchet job.
It may be a hatchet job, we'll see, or his preview may simply reflect his view
  based on the research he has done to date.
The piece was a hatchet job, designed to inspire the uniformed.
It is not often that one observes the birth of a neo-con hatchet job.
Idioms & Phrases
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