ax
or axe
[aks]
- an instrument with a bladed head on a handle or helve, used for hewing, cleaving, chopping, etc.
- Jazz Slang. any musical instrument.
- the ax, Informal.
- dismissal from employment: to get the ax.
- expulsion from school.
- rejection by a lover, friend, etc.: His girlfriend gave him the ax.
- any usually summary removal or curtailment.
Show More
- to shape or trim with an ax.
- to chop, split, destroy, break open, etc., with an ax: The firemen had to ax the door to reach the fire.
- Informal. to dismiss, restrict, or destroy brutally, as if with an ax: The main office axed those in the field who didn't meet their quota. Congress axed the budget.
Show More
- have an ax to grind, to have a personal or selfish motive: His interest may be sincere, but I suspect he has an ax to grind.
Show More
Origin of ax
before 1000; Middle English; ax(e), ex(e), Old English æx, æces; akin to Gothic aquizi, Old Norse øx, ǫx, Old High German acc(h)us, a(c)kus (German Axt), Middle High German plural exa < Germanic *akwiz-, akuz-, aksi- ≪ *ákəs, áks-; Latin ascia (< *acsiā), Greek axī́nē; < Indo-European *ag-s-
ax-
- variant of axi-, especially before a vowel.
Show More
ax.
Show More
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ax
Contemporary Examples
One morning a few years ago, the editor left his apartment to find an ax stuck into a log on his doorstep.
The Kremlin Is Killing Echo of Moscow, Russia’s Last Independent Radio StationAnna Nemtsova
November 7, 2014
“Kasich wields his ax much less selectively than do most of his party colleagues,” the New York Times Magazine reported in 1998.
Then, one warm summer day, Andrew and Abby were found hacked to death more than a dozen times with an ax.
The ensuing night gave me the grand migraine of my life, with throbs like the blows of an ax and continuous pinwheels.
Armed with an ax or a machete, he stops incoming cars for questioning: Who are they?
Historical Examples
I rub it on boots, I keep my guns and ax from rustin' by smearin' it on.
With Trapper Jim in the North WoodsLawrence J. Leslie
His ax swung up and down, bit into something soft and yielding.
Slaves of MercuryNat Schachner
He swung and swung again, the ax bit deep, but still they came.
Slaves of MercuryNat Schachner
Then the Triton grew enraged, leaped up and struck at Notscha with his ax.
The Chinese Fairy BookVarious
And in the tree sat a man who was chopping off the smaller boughs with an ax.
The Chinese Fairy BookVarious
Word Origin and History for ax
n.
see axe (n.).
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
ax
- axis
Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Idioms and Phrases with ax
ax
In addition to the idiom beginning with ax
- ax to grind
also see:
- get the ax
Show More
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.