an instrument with a bladed head on a handle or helve, used for hewing, cleaving, chopping, etc.
Jazz Slang. any musical instrument.
Informal. the ax,
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.
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.
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-
An ax is a sharp tool for cutting wood. When you split logs, you hold the handle, swing the ax into the air, and let the blade fall on the wood. Most axes have a long wooden handle connected to a blade made of sharpened steel. An ax is a useful tool to own if you have a wood stove or are building a campfire. You can also spell the word with an e at the end: axe. As a verb, to ax means to fire someone from a job: "He was late so many times that I finally had to ax him."
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
