/boosh"hwak', -wak'/ , v.i.
1. to make one's way through woods by cutting at undergrowth, branches, etc.
2. to travel through woods.
3. to pull a boat upstream from on board by grasping bushes, rocks, etc., on the shore.
4. to fight as a bushwhacker or guerrilla in the bush.
v.t.
5. to fight as a bushwhacker; ambush.
6. to defeat, esp. by surprise or in an underhanded way: They bushwhacked our high school team when they used college players.
[ 1830-40, Amer.; back formation from BUSHWHACKER ]