axe
See also: Axe and axé
English
Etymology 1
An axe
From Middle English ax, axe, ex, from Old English æx, from Proto-West Germanic *akusi, from Proto-Germanic *akwisī, probably from a Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʷsih₂ (“axe”), from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp, pointed”). Compare German Axt, Dutch aks, Danish økse, Icelandic öxi, and also Latin ascia.
Alternative forms
- ax (largely US)
Pronunciation
- enPR: ăks, IPA(key): /æks/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -æks
Noun
axe (plural axes)
- 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.
- An ancient weapon consisting of a head that has one or two blades and a long handle.
- (informal) A dismissal or rejection.
- Synonyms: chop, pink slip, sack, boot
- His girlfriend/boss/schoolmaster gave him the axe.
- (figurative) A drastic reduction or cutback.
- the Beeching axe
- 1975, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Tangled Up in Blue”, in Blood on the Tracks:
- 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
- 1994, Scotland, Tony, The Empty Throne: The Quest for an Imperial Heir in the People's Republic of China, Penguin Books, →ISBN, OCLC 221410579, OL 7349476M, page 103:
- But P'u-yi was nothing if not soft when it came to family, and he arranged for the young man to live with his uncle Beitzu P'u-hsiu in P'u-yi's old house in T'ien-ching. So Yü-t'ai was well clear of Ch'ang-ch'un when the axe fell in 1945.
- (slang, music) A gigging musician's particular instrument, especially a guitar in rock music or a saxophone in jazz.
- (finance) A position, interest, or reason in buying and selling stock, often with ulterior motives.
- 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.
Usage notes
- In the United States, some spell the weapon axe and the tool ax to distinguish them, though most people use the same spelling for both senses.
Hyponyms
- battle axe, battleaxe
- Beeching axe
- crash axe
- Dane axe
- Danish axe
- fire axe
- hatchet
- Jeddart axe
- Lochaber axe
- throwing-axe
- tomahawk
- wagoner's axe
Derived terms
- axe head
- axeman
- axe-murder
- axe murder
- axe-murderer
- axe murderer
- axe throwing
- axe to grind
- axe wound
- Bad Axe
- battle-axe
- boarding axe
- break-axe
- curtal-axe
- curtle-axe
- dagger-axe
- give the axe
- hand axe
- have an axe to grind
- ice axe
- ice-axe
- mad as a meat axe
- meat axe
- moot-axe
- pick-axe
- pole-axe
- take an axe to
- throwing axe
Translations
tool
|
weapon
|
rejection
|
instrument
|
finance: interest in buying or selling
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also
- adze
- hatchet
- twibill
Verb
axe (third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)
- (transitive) To fell or chop with an axe.
- (transitive, figurative) To lay off, terminate or drastically reduce, especially in a rough or ruthless manner; to cancel.
- Synonyms: downsize, fire, lay off; see also Thesaurus:lay off
- The government announced its plans to axe public spending.
- The broadcaster axed the series because far fewer people than expected watched it.
- He got axed in the last round of firings.
- 2020 February 12, Mark Sweney, “Mobile World Congress axed after firms quit over coronavirus fears”, in The Guardian:
- On Wednesday, GSMA, which organises the congress, was forced to admit it would have to axe this year’s event after more than 40 companies pulled out citing health and safety concerns.
- 2020 June 17, Philip Haigh, “Capital for the capital to meet London's transport needs”, in Rail, page 28:
- The Department for Transport axed TfL's central grant in 2015, when Boris Johnson was London mayor.
Translations
fell or chop
|
terminate or reduce tremendously in a rough or ruthless manner
|
Alternative forms
- ax (American)
Noun
axe (plural axes)
- (archaic) The axle of a wheel.
Verb
axe (third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)
- To furnish with an axle.
Etymology 3
Old English axian (“ask”); see ax for more.
Verb
axe (third-person singular simple present axes, present participle axing, simple past and past participle axed)
- (now obsolete outside dialects, especially African-American Vernacular) Alternative form of ask
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], OCLC 762018299, The Gospell off S. Mathew vij:[7], folio ix, recto:
- Axe and it ſhalbe geven you. Seke and ye ſhall fynd / Knocke and it ſhalbe opened vnto you.
- 1904, Jr. John Fox, “The Army of the Callahan”, in Christmas Eve on Lonesome and Other Stories:
- I axe you—have I said one word about that little matter to-day?
- 2013 November 18, Loren D. Estleman, Edsel, Stress, and Motown (The Detroit Novels; I), →ISBN, page 140:
- I axe him to sit down and drink some of my wine, but he says no thanks, he just come to axe me a question.
-
Further reading
axe (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
- exa-
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin axis. Compare the inherited doublet ais.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /aks/
audio (file)
Noun
axe m (plural axes)
- axis
- axle
Derived terms
- axe de rotation
- axe de symétrie
Descendants
- → Turkish: aks
Further reading
- “axe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Galician
Etymology
Unknown. Cognate with Spanish aje.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈaʃɪ]
Noun
axe m (plural axes)
- ache
- affront
- Synonym: afronta
References
- “axe” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
- “axe” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
- “axe” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.
- Joan Coromines; José A. Pascual (1983–1991), “aje”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos
Interlingua
Noun
axe (plural axes)
- An axis, a straight line that crosses the center of a body and around which it turns.
- An axle, a bar connecting parallel wheels of a kart, wagon, etc.
Latin
Noun
axe
- ablative singular of axis
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old English æx.
Noun
axe
- Alternative form of ax
Etymology 2
From Old English ǣsce, from Proto-Germanic *aiskijǭ.
Alternative forms
- as
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /aks/
Noun
axe
- (rare) An ask or demand.
Descendants
- English: ask (if not formed from the verb)
References
- “axe, n.(3).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-24.
Etymology 3
From Old English æsce.
Noun
axe
- Alternative form of asshe (“burnt matter”)
Etymology 4
From Old English āscian.
Verb
axe
- Alternative form of axen (“to ask”)