meat ax

¹

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.

meat-ax

²

[meet-aks]

adjective

Informal.

1. drastic or severe.

   meat-ax defense cuts.

2. favoring or advocating drastic reductions.

   a meat-ax approach to the budget.

Word History and Origins

Origin of meat ax¹

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

His history suggests, however, that given the go-ahead he will gleefully take a meat ax to the program.

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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.

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He’s like Willie Stark in “All the Kings’ Men” exhorting the mob that had marched on the capitol by torchlight to save him from impeachment to give him even more power: “Gimme that meat ax!”

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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.

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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.

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