MATTOCK (O.E. mattuc, of uncertain origin)  , a tool having a double iron head, of which one end is shaped like an adze, and the other like a pickaxe . The head has a socket in the centre in which the handle is inserted transversely to the blades . It is used chiefly for grubbing and rooting among tree stumps in plantations and copses, where the roots are too close for the use of a spade, or for loosening hard soil .