| 词组 | hatchet man |
| 释义 | Idiom hatchet man informal someone who is employed by an organization to make changes that people do not like.The hatchet man is called in whenever a company needs to reduce its staff. hatchet man noun 1 a person who is called upon to perform distasteful tasks. From the literal image of a paid assassin armed with a hatchet; sometimes abbreviated to a simple 'hatchet' US, 1937. 2 a physically aggressive athlete, especially one who is tasked with roughing up an opponent US, 1971 hatchet manA person hired by a company to make sweeping changes to save money, usually by reducing staff. We knew our days were numbered when our company brought in a hatchet man to make cuts to the staff. hatchet mana man who does the cruel or difficult things for someone else; someone who does someone else's dirty work. He served as the president's hatchet man and ended up doing all the dirty work. hatchet man1. 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] a hatchet manINFORMALA hatchet man is someone who is employed to do unpleasant tasks, especially to get rid of jobs in a company. Note: A hatchet is a small axe. Hall, they reckoned, was a hatchet man, out to shred the workforce and totally crush the union. Note: A woman who does a similar job can be called a hatchet woman. She had a reputation for being a ruthless hatchet woman. Note: This expression is usually used to show disapproval. Note: This expression may relate to violent gang warfare in the United States during the early part of the 20th century. Gangs often hired an assassin or `hatchet man' to hack an important member of a rival gang to death with a hatchet. This work was known as a `hatchet job'. hatchet manA person who performs nasty tasks for his or her superior, such as firing subordinates, attacking the character of a political opponent, spreading rumors about a competitor, or the like. The term, so used since the 1940s, was applied particularly in politics and journalism, and the work so performed was also called a hatchet job. The magazine Newsweek had it on July 27, 1968: “He’ll be the hatchet man . . . just like Nixon was in 1952.” It also is used in other contexts, for example, “This critic did a real hatchet job on her concert.” A related term is character assassination, dating from about 1950, but it is no longer heard as often. |
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