axe

/ æks /

noun

1. a hand tool with one side of its head forged and sharpened to a cutting edge, used for felling trees, splitting timber, etc See also hatchet

2. 1. an ulterior motive

   2. a grievance

   3. a pet subject

3. informal

   1. dismissal, esp from employment; the sack (esp in the phrase get the axe )

   2. severe cutting down of expenditure, esp the removal of unprofitable sections of a public service

4. slang,  any musical instrument, esp a guitar or horn

verb

1. to chop or trim with an axe

2. informal,  to dismiss (employees), restrict (expenditure or services), or terminate (a project)

Word History and Origins

Origin of axe¹

Old English æx; related to Old Frisian axa, Old High German acchus, Old Norse öx, Latin ascia, Greek axinē

Example Sentences

AstraZeneca and Merck recently axed plans for sizeable infrastructure investment in Britain, with the US pharma group citing UK drugs prices as a major reason for its U-turn.

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A prop axe was brought in as crew members set the scene for a horror movie being filmed in Budapest's former psychiatric institute, one of numerous Hollywood productions under way in the Hungarian capital.

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They also want rules on the use of artificial intelligence and better conditions for freelancers, who the federation says are suffering low-paid "exploitation" as employers axe full-time contracts.

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The text was one of the first to fall under the axe of Brussels' new drive to make life easier for European industry, struggling in the face of US and Chinese competition.

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She claimed a "black hole" in the nation's finances meant winter fuel payments would have to be axed for millions of pensioners and National Insurance hiked for employers.

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Related Words

• consume 
• crush 
• damage 
• dismantle 
• end 
• eradicate 
• gut 
• impair 
• kill 
• maim 
• ravage 
• raze 
• ruin 
• sabotage 
• shatter 
• smash 
• smash-up 
• wipe out 
• wreck