Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Axe

{

Ax

,

Axe

, }
(ăks)
,
Noun.
[OE.
ax
,
axe
, AS.
eax
,
æx
,
acas
; akin to D.
akse
, OS.
accus
, OHG.
acchus
, G.
axt
, Icel.
öx
,
öxi
, Sw.
yxe
, Dan.
ökse
, Goth.
aqizi
, Gr.
ἀξίνη
, L.
ascia
; not akin to E.
acute
.]
A tool or instrument of steel, or of iron with a steel edge or blade, for felling trees, chopping and splitting wood, hewing timber, etc. It is wielded by a wooden helve or handle, so fixed in a socket or eye as to be in the same plane with the blade. The broadax, or carpenter’s ax, is an ax for hewing timber, made heavier than the chopping ax, and with a broader and thinner blade and a shorter handle.
The ancient battle-ax had sometimes a double edge.
☞ The word is used adjectively or in combination; as, axhead or ax head; ax helve; ax handle; ax shaft; ax-shaped; axlike.
This word was originally spelt with e, axe; and so also was nearly every corresponding word of one syllable: as, flaxe, taxe, waxe, sixe, mixe, pixe, oxe, fluxe, etc. This superfluous e is not dropped; so that, in more than a hundred words ending in x, no one thinks of retaining the e except in axe. Analogy requires its exclusion here.
“The spelling ax is better on every ground, of etymology, phonology, and analogy, than axe, which has of late become prevalent.”
New English Dict. (Murray).

Definition 2024

Axe

Axe

See also: axe and axé

English

Proper noun

Axe

  1. Either of two rivers in the West Country, England.

French

Proper noun

Axe m

  1. (historical) Axis (World War Two nation group)

See also

  • Alliés

axe

axe

See also: Axe and axé

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: ăks, IPA(key): /æks/
  • Rhymes: -æks

Alternative forms

  • ax (largely US)

Noun

axe ‎(plural axes)

  1. A tool for felling trees or chopping wood etc. consisting of a heavy head flattened to a blade on one side, and a handle attached to it.
  2. An ancient weapon consisting of a head that has one or two blades and a long handle.
  3. (informal) A dismissal or rejection.
    His girlfriend/boss/schoolmaster gave him the axe.
    • 1975, Bob Dylan, Tangled Up in Blue
      I had a job in the great North Woods
      Workin' as a cook for a spell.
      But I never did like it all that much
      And one day the axe just fell.
  4. (slang, music) A gigging musician's particular instrument, especially a guitar in rock music or a saxophone in jazz.
  5. (finance) A position, interest, or reason in buying and selling stock, often with ulterior motives.[1]
    A financial dealer has an axe in a stock that his buyers don't know about, giving him an advantage in making the most profit.
    Those stocks are losing value quickly; he's axed to sell now before they drop even lower.
Usage notes

In the United States, this spelling is often used to distinguish the weapon from the tool, though some simply don't use the "ax" spelling at all, and only use "axe".

Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Verb

axe ‎(third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)

  1. (transitive) To fell or chop with an axe.
  2. (transitive) To lay off, terminate or drastically reduce, especially in a rough or ruthless manner.
    The government announced its plans to axe public spending.
    The broadcaster axed the series because far less people than expected watched it.
    He got axed in the last round of firings.
Synonyms
Translations

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Noun

axe ‎(plural axes)

  1. (archaic) The axle of a wheel.

Verb

axe ‎(third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)

  1. To furnish with an axle.

Etymology 3

Verb

axe ‎(third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)

  1. (obsolete or dialectal) Alternative form of ask
    • 1395, John Wycliffe, trans. Bible, 1 Corinthis 14:35:
      But if thei wolen ony thing lerne, at home axe thei her hosebondis; for it is foule thing to a womman to speke in chirche.
    • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Luke IIi:
      And the people axed hym, sayinge: What shall we do then.

References

  1. ↑ Shedding the correlation ‘axe’, Risk magazine

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin axis. Compare the inherited doublet ais.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /aks/

Noun

axe m ‎(plural axes)

  1. axis
  2. axle

Interlingua

Noun

axe ‎(plural axes)

  1. Straight line that crosses the center of a body and around which it turns.
  2. Bar connecting parallel wheels of a kart, wagon, etc.

Latin

Noun

axe

  1. ablative singular of axis

Etymology

An axe

From Middle English, from Old English æx, from Proto-Germanic *akwisī, probably from a Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʷs-ih₂- ‎(“axe”), from *h₂eḱ- ‎(“sharp, pointed”). Compare German Axt, Danish økse, Icelandic öxi, and also Latin ascia.

Similar Results