pickax

or pick·axe

[pik-aks]

noun, plural pick·ax·es.

a pick, especially a mattock.

verb (used with object), pick·axed, pick·ax·ing.

to cut or clear away with a pickax.

verb (used without object), pick·axed, pick·ax·ing.

to use a pickax.

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 pickaxe

Contemporary Examples of pickaxe

An artist in New Mexico has spent decades chiseling out fantastical caves from the mountains, one pickaxe swing at a time.
New Mexico’s Amazing Man-Made Caves
Nina Strochlic
December 12, 2013

Historical Examples of pickaxe

“Many long years I have been waiting for you, my son,” answered the pickaxe.
Our Young Folks, Vol 1, No. 1
Various
Then he struck the giant such a blow on the head with a pickaxe that he killed him.
Favorite Fairy Tales
Logan Marshall
He has a toy shovel and a pickaxe and a little axe that will cut.
The Nursery, November 1873, Vol. XIV. No. 5
Various
Ned picked up the pickaxe and placing it in his knapsack, again went on.
The Magic Soap Bubble
David Cory
There was a pickaxe—perhaps the very one she had seen there in the winter—and a shovel.
Ruth Fielding At College
Alice B. Emerson

British Dictionary definitions for pickaxe

pickaxe

US pickax

noun

a large pick or mattock

verb

to use a pickaxe on (earth, rocks, etc)

Word Origin for pickaxe

C15: from earlier pikois (but influenced also by axe), from Old French picois, from pic pick ²; compare also pique 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pickaxe

also pick-axe, early 15c., folk etymology alteration (by influence of axe) of Middle English picas (mid-13c.), via Anglo-French piceis, Old French pocois (11c.) and directly from Medieval Latin picosa "pick," related to Latin picus "woodpecker" (see pie (n.2)).