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• meat ax
  meat ax

  noun

  cleaver.
• meat-ax
  meat-ax

  adjective

  drastic or severe.

meat ax

¹ American  

noun

1. cleaver.

2. Informal. a drastic or ruthless procedure or approach, especially for reducing or trimming something, as expenditures.

   The committee used a meat ax on the recreation budget.

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meat-ax ² American  

[meet-aks] / ˈmitˌæks /

adjective

Informal.

1. drastic or severe.

   meat-ax defense cuts.

2. favoring or advocating drastic reductions.

   a meat-ax approach to the budget.

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Etymology

Origin of meat ax

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

meat ax meat-ax

The declaration hit Capitol Hill as yet another bolt from the gods — a surprise attack from a mercurial lawmaker who, to some colleagues, has randomly swung a meat ax at their policy agenda.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 26, 2021

Instead, Disney’s misconceived live-action remake of the studio’s 1992 animated classic offers the audience overstuffed musical-production numbers that look like they’ve been edited with a meat ax.

From Seattle Times ● May 22, 2019

That separate agreement drives a stake into White House promises last year to take a meat ax to domestic agencies and eventually bring the budget back into the black.

From Washington Times ● Feb. 11, 2018

On his final flight overseas, aides gave him a plastic meat ax to commemorate his time in office.

From Reuters ● Feb. 14, 2013

Have the butcher cut the round steak one-half inch thick and then pound it with a meat ax to break the tough tissues.

From Mrs. Wilson's Cook Book Numerous New Recipes Based on Present Economic Conditions by Mary A. Wilson

“It would trigger an automatic, meat-ax, indiscriminate, across-the-board cut in our already inadequate defense budget and in the domestic, discretionary nondefense funding,” Ms. Collins said.

From New York Times ● Jun. 1, 2023

“I just think this is a meat-ax approach when it didn’t have to be,” said state Sen. Rosalyn Baker, who added that the legislation could hurt people who have spent years collecting ivory.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 27, 2016

Panetta charged the cuts would be carried out using a "goofy meat-ax approach" and a "crazy doomsday mechanism."

From Reuters ● Feb. 14, 2013

This does not mean that Congress will use the same meat-ax approach.

From Reuters ● Dec. 10, 2012

The voice was cool, and sharp as a meat-ax.

From The Stolen Singer by Martha Idell Fletcher Bellinger