hatchet man

n. Slang

1. A man hired to commit murder.
2. One assigned to carry out a ruthless task or a vicious or unscrupulous order.

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Company employee responsible for reducing personnel or telling them of their dismissal and the terms of severance.

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1.  A person assigned or hired to carry out a disagreeable task or unscrupulous order. For example, When it came to firing an employee, Arthur was his boss's hatchet man. This expression originally referred to a hired assassin but in the mid-1900s was transferred to less nefarious enterprises.
2.  A person who attacks the reputation of others, especially a journalist hired to do so, as in You can count on Mary's column to destroy the mayor--she's the perfect hatchet man. This usage gave rise to hatchet job, meaning "harsh destructive criticism." [Mid-1900s]

noun
noun, orig spec

1: A hired killer, . a hired Chinese assassin in the US. (1880 —) .
P. Frank He was a hatchet man for the NKVD. He may have delivered Beria over to Malenkov and Krushchev (1957).

2: Someone employed to carry out a hatchet job. (1952 —) .
News Chronicle The Kennedy family went into action with a commando team of political hatchetmen (1960).

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For a list of words related to hatchet man, see:

• Politicians and Activists - hatchet man: one employed to engage secretly in unscrupulous activities that would tarnish elected official

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