Category:Mattock

Mat"tock, n. Etym: [AS. mattuc; cf. W. matog.]

Defn: An implement for digging and grubbing. The head has two long steel blades, one like an adz and the other like a narrow ax or the point of a pickax. 'Tis you must dig with mattock and with spade. Shak.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Mattock - (1.) Heb. ma'eder, an instrument for dress or pruning a vineyard (Isaiah 7:25); a weeding-hoe. (2.) Heb. mahareshah (1 Samuel 13:1), perhaps the ploughshare or coulter. (3.) Heb. herebh, marg. of text (2 Chronicles 34:6). Authorized Version, "with their mattocks," marg. "mauls." The Revised Version renders "in their ruins," marg. "with their axes." The Hebrew text is probably corrupt.