hand ax

American  

[hand aks] / ˈhænd ˌæks /

noun

1. Also hand axe a usually large, general-purpose bifacial Paleolithic stone tool, often oval or pear-shaped in form and characteristic of certain Lower Paleolithic industries.

2. broad hatchet.

---

hand ax Scientific  

/ hănd′ăks′ /

1. A cutting or chopping tool, especially of the Lower Paleolithic Period, typically consisting of a piece of flint or other coarse stone that has been flaked on both sides to produce a sharp edge running all around the perimeter. Hand axes are core tools (produced from a found stone rather than from a processed flake) and have been found in several basic, often pointed shapes, including oval, triangular, and cordate (heart-shaped). The most common Paleolithic tool, they are especially associated with the Acheulian and some Mousterian tool cultures.

---

Etymology

Origin of hand ax

before 1000; Middle English, Old English

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hand ax

A small hand ax he was holding clanged on the ground.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 8, 2022

These tall, relatively large-brained ancestors of modern humans arose about 1.9 million years ago and soon afterward invented a sophisticated new tool, the hand ax.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 22, 2016

That it took hundreds of thousands of years to get from hand ax to ax with handle suggests that as of 50,000 B.C., during the Middle Paleolithic, the social brain was not humming very vibrantly.

From Time Magazine Archive

One person invents, say, a flint hand ax; the idea creeps across the landscape, gets improved here and there, and finally, in a distant land, stimulates a whole new idea: axes with handles conveniently attached.

From Time Magazine Archive

I forced it back and drove wedges in top and bottom with a hand ax.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck