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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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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-
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for axed
Contemporary Examples
Marlow: I think that season finale episodes are tough, and a few of those threads definitely should have been axed.
‘Orange Is the New Black’: Inside the Wild S2 Finale and What’s Next for Season 3Kevin Fallon, Marlow Stern
July 12, 2014
In fact, he has axed the sub-group of the project that was slated to work on the cognitive level.
Since May 2010, the public sector has axed 1.125 million jobs.
Fox also axed Dick Morris, who repeatedly predicted that Mitt Romney would beat Obama in an electoral landslide.
However the breakfast show they were working on has been axed and will be replaced by a show called The Bump.
Historical Examples
If I had known he felt like that about it I might have axed his consent!
The Woman Thou Gavest MeHall Caine
He couldn't do it, that's all; at least, I'd not be the man that axed her leave!
Luttrell Of ArranCharles James Lever
Anyhow he said so an' axed me ter marry him an' he squeezed my han'.
God heard his prayer 'cause he said he axed God not to let him be sold.
I axed al thet, an' what der ye think she sed, Why jest this. '
Among the PinesJames R. Gilmore
Word Origin and History for axed
ax
n.
see axe (n.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
ax
- axis
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Idioms and Phrases with axed
ax
In addition to the idiom beginning with ax
- ax to grind
also see:
- get the ax
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.