get the ax

Idioms  

1. Also,. Be discharged or fired, expelled, or rejected. For example, He got the ax at the end of the first week, or The manager was stunned when he got the boot himself, or We got the bounce in the first quarter, or The pitcher got the hook after one inning, or Bill finally gave his brother-in-law the sack. All but the last of these slangy expressions date from the 1870s and 1880s. They all have variations using give that mean “to fire or expel someone,” as in Are they giving Ruth the ax? Get the ax alludes to the executioner's ax, and get the boot to literally booting or kicking someone out. Get the bounce alludes to being bounced out; get the can comes from the verb can, “to dismiss,” perhaps alluding to being sealed in a container; get the heave-ho alludes to heave in the sense of lifting someone bodily, and get the hook is an allusion to a fishing hook. Get the sack, first recorded in 1825, probably came from French though it existed in Middle Dutch. The reference here is to a workman's sac (“bag”) in which he carried his tools and which was given back to him when he was fired. Also see give someone the air.

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Example Sentences

Nevertheless, sometimes a high-scoring trick has to get the ax.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2025

However, Standen said that while the fans may not be ready for the beloved fighter to get the ax, they shouldn’t worry too much — yet.

From Fox News • Dec. 1, 2018

Soon after ABC canceled Roseanne, for instance, fans of the show retaliated by calling for Bill Maher to get the ax for comparing Donald Trump to an orangutan.

From Slate • May 31, 2018

Contrary to some misperceptions, federal employees can be fired — about 11,000 or so get the ax each year.

From Washington Post • May 21, 2013

She meant why did I get the ax again.

From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger