Library / English Dictionary

AXE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An edge tool with a heavy bladed head mounted across a handle

Synonyms:

ax; axe

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("axe" is a kind of...):

edge tool (any cutting tool with a sharp cutting edge (as a chisel or knife or plane or gouge))

Meronyms (parts of "axe"):

ax handle; axe handle (the handle of an ax)

ax head; axe head (the cutting head of an ax)

blade (the flat part of a tool or weapon that (usually) has a cutting edge)

haft; helve (the handle of a weapon or tool)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "axe"):

broadax; broadaxe (a large ax with a broad cutting blade)

common ax; common axe; Dayton ax; Dayton axe (an ax with a long handle and a head that has one cutting edge and one blunt side)

double-bitted ax; double-bitted axe; Western ax; Western axe (an ax that has cutting edges on both sides of the head)

fireman's ax; fireman's axe (an ax that has a long handle and a head with one cutting edge and a point on the other side)

hatchet (a small ax with a short handle used with one hand (usually to chop wood))

ice ax; ice axe; piolet (an ax used by mountain climbers for cutting footholds in ice)

poleax; poleaxe (an ax used to slaughter cattle; has a hammer opposite the blade)

Derivation:

axe (chop or split with an ax)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Terminate

Example:

The NSF axed the research program and stopped funding it

Synonyms:

ax; axe

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "axe" is one way to...):

end; terminate (bring to an end or halt)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Chop or split with an ax

Example:

axe wood

Synonyms:

ax; axe

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "axe" is one way to...):

chop; hack (cut with a hacking tool)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They axe the trees

Derivation:

axe (an edge tool with a heavy bladed head mounted across a handle)

Credits

 Context examples: 

From one of these I picked a battle-axe, and then, leaving my candle behind me, I crept on tiptoe down the passage and peeped in at the open door.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He went out into the wash-room to get the axe, and found Joe starching manuscripts.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Godfrey read it, and fell back in a chair as if he had been pole-axed.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I kill it with the axe as I go by, as I kill one of my dogs which loses its legs and can travel no more.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The dog-driver held the axe poised in his hand, and as Buck shot past him the axe crashed down upon mad Dolly’s head.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

“What would you advise, then?” I asked. “That I should take a knife, or a gun, or an axe, and kill this man?”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He observed the boy lay down the axe and take up a stout club.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

They have a kind of hard flints, which, by grinding against other stones, they form into instruments, that serve instead of wedges, axes, and hammers.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

A form of ocular misalignment where the visual axes diverge inappropriately.

(Divergent Strabismus, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Giant as he was, the man must have gone down like a pole-axed ox before that terrific blow.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)