Male, warlike type, holding a chopper (8)
I believe the answer is:
tomahawk
'chopper' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'male warlike type holding a' is the wordplay.
'male' becomes 'tom' (I've seen this in other clues).
'warlike type' becomes 'hawk' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'holding' is an insertion indicator.
'tom'+'hawk'='tomhawk'
'tomhawk' going around 'a' is 'TOMAHAWK'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tomahawk that I've seen before include "Native American weapon" , "Axe as weapon" , "American Indian axe" , "Hatchet used by North American Indians" , "North American Indian hatchet" .)