hatchetation

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

hatchet +‎ -ation, coined by Carry Nation (1846-1911) to describe her own acts of vandalism. Possibly a pun on agitation.

Noun[edit]

hatchetation (countable and uncountable, plural hatchetations)

  1. A violent protest against the drinking of alcohol in which the protester attacks the bar with a hatchet.
    • 1936, Laurence Greene, America goes to press: the news of yesterday:
      I tell you I was strongly tempted to perform a little hatchetation on them. And cigarette smoke? Phew!
    • 1976, Frederick Feikema Manfred, Milk of wolves:
      They'd carry on worse than Carry Nation did in all her hatchetations.
    • 1978, Joan Swallow Reiter, The Women:
      Carry's last hatchetation
    • 1999, Karen Joy Fowler, Black glass: short fictions:
      [] a more confrontational shot: Carry in battle dress, threatening the photographer with hatchetation.
    • 2001, Fran Grace, Carry A. Nation: retelling the life:
      Annie Diggs, a noted suffragist and nationally renowned Populist who later applauded Carry Nation's hatchetation of saloons, gave a lecture in Holton on "The Social Evil."
    • 2002, Bonnie C Harvey, Carry A. Nation: Saloon Smasher and Prohibitionist:
      Carry Nation's hatchetation, or joint-smashing displays, helped pave the way for the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment []