A meat cleaver is a bladed instrument used for chopping up food. Unlike a knife, a meat cleaver does not have a tapered point, but rather has a rectangular blade with a single straight edge. Its design is specifically for chopping and not slicing or stabbing. The density of the blade makes it ideal for cutting up pieces of food that are otherwise too tough for other instruments, including meat that might have small pieces of bone or cartilage, or thick strands of fat.
In Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Ethel Hubbard uses a meat cleaver to cut up some chicken. Roy Burns uses a meat cleaver to kill Jake Patterson.
In the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, while hiding from Leatherface at the Blair Meat Co., a woman named Erin grabs a meat cleaver and attacks Leatherface, hacking at him several times until ultimately cutting off his arm. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Thomas Hewitt uses a meat cleaver to chop up some bits of beef on his last day of employment at the Lee Bros. Meat Processing Plant before being instructed to go home.
