AXE

ax, axe

(noun) an edge tool with a heavy bladed head mounted across a handle

ax, axe

(verb) terminate; “The NSF axed the research program and stopped funding it”

axe, ax

(verb) chop or split with an ax; “axe wood”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Noun

axe (plural axes)

A tool for felling trees or chopping wood etc. consisting of a heavy head flattened to a blade on one side, and a handle attached to it.

An ancient weapon consisting of a head that has one or two blades and a long handle.

(informal) A dismissal or rejection.

Synonyms: chop, pink slip, sack, boot

(slang, music) A gigging musician's particular instrument, especially a guitar in rock music or a saxophone in jazz.

(finance) A position, interest, or reason in buying and selling stock, often with ulterior motives.

Usage notes

• In the United States, some spell the weapon axe and the tool ax to distinguish them, though most people use the same spelling for both senses, more commonly ax.

Verb

axe (third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)

(transitive) To fell or chop with an axe.

(transitive, figurative) To lay off, terminate or drastically reduce, especially in a rough or ruthless manner; to cancel.

Synonyms: downsize, fire, lay off, Thesaurus:lay off

Etymology 2

Noun

axe (plural axes)

(archaic) The axle of a wheel.

Verb

axe (third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)

To furnish with an axle.

Etymology 3

Verb

axe (third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)

(now, obsolete, outside, dialects, especially, African-American Vernacular) Alternative form of ask

Anagrams

• exa-

Proper noun

Axe

A river in Dorset, Somerset and east Devon, England, which flows into Lyme Bay at Seaton.

A river in Somerset, England, which flows into the Bristol Channel at Weston-super-Mare.

Anagrams

• exa-

Source: Wiktionary


Ax, Axe,, n. Etym: [OE. ax, axe, AS. eax, æx, acas; akin to D. akse, OS. accus, OHG. acchus, G. axt, Icel. öx, öxi, Sw. yxe, Dan. ökse, Goth. aqizi, Gr. , L. ascia; not akin to E. acute.]

Definition: A tool or instrument of steel, or of iron with a steel edge or blade, for felling trees, chopping and splitting wood, hewing timber, etc. It is wielded by a wooden helve or handle, so fixed in a socket or eye as to be in the same plane with the blade. The broadax, or carpenter's ax, is an ax for hewing timber, made heavier than the chopping ax, and with a broader and thinner blade and a shorter handle.

Note: The ancient battle-ax had sometimes a double edge.

Note: The word is used adjectively or in combination; as, axhead or ax head; ax helve; ax handle; ax shaft; ax-shaped; axlike.

Note: This word was originally spelt with e, axe; and so also was nearly every corresponding word of one syllable: as, flaxe, taxe, waxe, sixe, mixe, pixe, oxe, fluxe, etc. This superfluous e is not dropped; so that, in more than a hundred words ending in x, no one thinks of retaining the e except in axe. Analogy requires its exclusion here.

Note: "The spelling ax is better on every ground, of etymology, phonology, and analogy, than axe, which has of late become prevalent." New English Dict. (Murray).

Axe, Axe"man, etc.

Definition: See Ax, Axman.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

24 April 2024

DECIDE

(verb) reach, make, or come to a decision about something; “We finally decided after lengthy deliberations”


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

You can overdose on coffee if you drink about 30 cups in a brief period to get close to a lethal dosage of caffeine.

coffee icon