/ · 1894 Brewer’s · H · Helve
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To throw the helve after the hatchet. To be reckless, to throw away what remains because your losses have been so great. The allusion is to the fable of the wood-cutter who lost the head of his axe in a river and threw the handle in after it.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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