AX Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com

View synonyms for

ax

or axe

[ aks ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

plural axes

an instrument with a bladed head on a handle or helve, used for hewing, cleaving, chopping, etc.
Jazz Slang. any musical instrument.
the ax, Informal.
1. dismissal from employment:
  to get the ax.
2. expulsion from school.
3. rejection by a lover, friend, etc.:
  His girlfriend gave him the ax.
4. any usually summary removal or curtailment.

verb (used with object)

axed, axing.

to shape or trim with an ax.
to chop, split, destroy, break open, etc., with an ax:
The firemen had to ax the door to reach the fire.
Informal. to dismiss, restrict, or destroy brutally, as if with an ax:
The main office axed those in the field who didn't meet their quota. Congress axed the budget.

ax-

variant of axi-, especially before a vowel.

ax.

abbreviation for

axiom.

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Other �y��vlogs From

��l�� adjective

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of ax¹

before 1000; Middle English; ax ( e ), ex ( e ), Old English æx, æces; akin to Gothic aquizi, Old Norse øx, ǫx, Old High German acc ( h ) us, a ( c ) kus ( German Axt ), Middle High German plural exa < Germanic *akwiz-, akuz-, aksi- ≪ *ákəs, áks-; Latin ascia (< *�� ), Greek ��ī́��ŧ; < Indo-European *ag-s-

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Idioms and Phrases

have an ax to grind, to have a personal or selfish motive:
His interest may be sincere, but I suspect he has an ax to grind.

More idioms and phrases containing ax

In addition to the idiom beginning with ax , also see get the ax .

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Example Sentences

Holding an ax, she was portrayed as a murderous, wealth-seeking seductress who had beheaded her husbands, evident by their heads disappearing from the wedding portraits scattered around the attic.

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It’s like 10 guys, and each is carrying an ax, and they don’t really have anything else.

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One account said the Russians paid the Kashia Pomo people already living there “three blankets, two axes, three hoes, and a miscellaneous assortment of beads” for the use of the land.

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At burials excavated at one site, over 85 iron objects - knives, arrowhead, rings, chisels, axes and swords - were found inside and outside burial urns.

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Efforts to ax the department have continued since, including a bill introduced last month by U.S.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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