noun
1. : a professional killer : triggerman , highbinder
the hooded cult retaliated and four … hatchet men were found dead in a ditch — W.M.Swann
2.
a. : one who transmits orders or maintains discipline for a superior : henchman
needed a competent and senior foreign service hachet man to keep the … career boys under control — Harper's
specifically : an ideological watchdog or party disciplinarian
served his party as chief hatchet man — Robert Bendiner
b.
(1) : a writer who specializes in denunciation and invective often on orders from an employer and without regard to personal scruples
our present journalistic hatchet men — B.R.Redman
(2) : critic
a literary hatchet man — S.E.Hyman