Cleaver

a heavy, broad-bladed knife or long-bladed hatchet, especially one used by butchers for cutting meat into joints or pieces.
a person or thing that cleaves.
Contemporary Examples

Why Don’t Black Leaders Demand More of the President? Paul Butler September 23, 2012
Democrats Have Maxed Out the Race Card Ron Christie December 16, 2013
Not Just Sandy Hook: China’s Terrifying Knife Attacks Melinda Liu December 14, 2012
Already Deadly in Africa, Could Ebola Hit America Next? Scott Bixby April 4, 2014
Why Don’t Black Leaders Demand More of the President? Paul Butler September 23, 2012

Historical Examples

Cleg Kelly, Arab of the City S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
Isabel Leicester Clotilda Jennings
Cleg Kelly, Arab of the City S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
Dubliners James Joyce
Cleg Kelly, Arab of the City S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

noun
a heavy knife or long-bladed hatchet, esp one used by butchers
n.

This last [“Marrowbones and Cleaver”] is a sign in Fetter Lane, originating from a custom, now rapidly dying away, of the butcher boys serenading newly married couples with these professional instruments. Formerly, the band would consist of four cleavers, each of a different tone, or, if complete, of eight, and by beating their marrowbones skilfully against these, they obtained a sort of music somewhat after the fashion of indifferent bell-ringing. When well performed, however, and heard from a proper distance, it was not altogether unpleasant. … The butchers of Clare market had the reputation of being the best performers. … This music was once so common that Tom Killigrew called it the national instrument of England. [Larwood & Hotten, “The History of Signboards from the Earliest Times to the Present Day,” London, 1867]

cleaver
(klē’vər)
A bifacial stone tool flaked to produce a straight, sharp, relatively wide edge at one end. Cleavers are early core tools associated primarily with the Acheulian tool culture.