What is "to bury the hatchet"

Hatchet \Hatch"et\ (-[e^]t), n. [F. hachette, dim. of hache ax. See 1st Hatch, Hash.]

1. A small ax with a short handle, to be used with one hand.

2. Specifically, a tomahawk.

   Buried was the bloody hatchet.
   --Longfellow.

   hatchet face, a thin, sharp face, like the edge of a hatchet; hence:

   hatchet-faced, sharp-visaged.
   --Dryden.

   To bury the hatchet, to make peace or become reconciled.

   To take up the hatchet, to make or declare war. The last two phrases are derived from the practice of the American Indians.

Bury \Bur"y\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Buried; p. pr. & vb. n. Burying.] [OE. burien, birien, berien, AS. byrgan; akin to beorgan to protect, OHG. bergan, G. bergen, Icel. bjarga, Sw. berga, Dan. bierge, Goth. ba['i]rgan. [root]95. Cf. Burrow.]

1. To cover out of sight, either by heaping something over, or by placing within something, as earth, etc.; to conceal by covering; to hide; as, to bury coals in ashes; to bury the face in the hands.

   And all their confidence Under the weight of mountains buried deep.
   --Milton.

2. Specifically: To cover out of sight, as the body of a deceased person, in a grave, a tomb, or the ocean; to deposit (a corpse) in its resting place, with funeral ceremonies; to inter; to inhume.

   Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
   --Matt. viii. 21.

   I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave.
   --Shak.

3. To hide in oblivion; to put away finally; to abandon; as, to bury strife.

   Give me a bowl of wine In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius.
   --Shak.

   Burying beetle (Zo["o]l.), the general name of many species of beetles, of the tribe Necrophaga; the sexton beetle; -- so called from their habit of burying small dead animals by digging away the earth beneath them. The larv[ae] feed upon decaying flesh, and are useful scavengers.

   To bury the hatchet, to lay aside the instruments of war, and make peace; -- a phrase used in allusion to the custom observed by the North American Indians, of burying a tomahawk when they conclude a peace.

   Syn: To intomb; inter; inhume; inurn; hide; cover; conceal; overwhelm; repress.