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pickax

or pick·axe

[pik-aks]
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noun, plural pick·ax·es.
  1. a pick, especially a mattock.
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verb (used with object), pick·axed, pick·ax·ing.
  1. to cut or clear away with a pickax.
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verb (used without object), pick·axed, pick·ax·ing.
  1. to use a pickax.
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Origin of pickax

1275–1325; pick2 + ax; replacing Middle English picois < Middle French, Old French; akin to French pic pick2. See pique1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for pickax

Historical Examples

  • After that somebody took a pickax and cracked in my jaw with it.

    Behind the Beyond

    Stephen Leacock

  • Jack and Alfonso were supplied with a pickax, a shovel and a basket.

    The Slave of the Mine

    Bracebridge Hemyng

  • They do not care to go back to the track, the pickax and the shovel.

  • He was taking a glass of ale at the 'Toad and Pickax,' and you might hear him all over the yard.

  • Just as the sun was setting, a man came into the gully with a pickax on his shoulder.