poleaxe

[ pohl-aks ]

noun, verb (used with object),plural pole·ax·es [pohl-ak-siz], /ˈpoʊlˌæk sɪz/, pole·axed, pole·ax·ing.
  1. variant of poleax.

Words Nearby poleaxe

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use poleaxe in a sentence

  • The quartos have 'pollax,' the two earliest folios read 'Pollax,' the third 'Polax,' the fourth 'poleaxe.'

    Ephemera Critica | John Churton Collins
  • And in this way I suppose you larned how to chop with your little poleaxe.

    Guy Rivers: A Tale of Georgia | William Gilmore Simms
  • The Constable wore gilt armour and a plumed helmet, and bore a poleaxe in his hands.

    Old and New London | Walter Thornbury
  • Wretched brutes there at the cattlemarket waiting for the poleaxe to split their skulls open.

    Ulysses | James Joyce
  • What th' butcher done I dinnaw; but annyhow they accused him iv wantin' to poleaxe th' governmint; an' they thrun him into a cell.

British Dictionary definitions for poleaxe

poleaxe

US poleax

/ (ˈpəʊlˌæks) /


noun
  1. another term for battle-axe (def. 1)

  2. a former naval weapon with an axe blade on one side of the handle and a spike on the other

  1. an axe used by butchers to slaughter animals

verb
  1. (tr) to hit or fell with or as if with a poleaxe

Origin of poleaxe

1
C14 pollax battle-axe, from poll + axe

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012