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Axe
Definitions
- 1 A river in Dorset, Somerset, and east Devon, England, which flows into Lyme Bay at Seaton.
- 2 A river in Somerset, England, which flows into the Bristol Channel at Weston-super-Mare.
- 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 The axle of a wheel. archaic
- 3 an edge tool with a heavy bladed head mounted across a handle wordnet
- 4 An ancient weapon consisting of a head that has one or two blades and a long handle.
- 5 A dismissal or rejection. informal
"His girlfriend/boss/schoolmaster gave him the axe."
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- 6 A drastic reduction or cutback. figuratively
"the Beeching Axe"
- 7 A gigging musician's particular instrument, especially a guitar in rock music or a saxophone in jazz. slang
- 8 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."
- 1 To fell or chop with an axe. transitive
- 2 To furnish with an axle.
- 3 Alternative form of ask. alt-of, alternative, dialectal, obsolete
"Axe and it ſhalbe geven you. Seke and ye ſhall fynd / Knocke and it ſhalbe opened vnto you."
- 4 terminate wordnet
- 5 To lay off, terminate or drastically reduce, especially in a rough or ruthless manner; to cancel. figuratively, transitive
"The government announced its plans to axe public spending."
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- 6 chop or split with an ax wordnet
Etymology
From Middle English ax, axe, ex, from Old English æx (“axe”), from Proto-West Germanic *akusi (“axe”), from Proto-Germanic *akwisī (“axe”), probably from a Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʷsih₂ (“axe”), from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp, pointed”). Cognate with Scots aix (“axe”), Dutch aks (“axe”), German Axt (“axe”), Danish økse (“axe”), Faroese and Norwegian øks (“axe”), Icelandic öxi (“axe”), Swedish yxa (“axe”), Latin ascia (“axe, mason's trowel”).
From Middle English ax, axe, ex, from Old English æx (“axe”), from Proto-West Germanic *akusi (“axe”), from Proto-Germanic *akwisī (“axe”), probably from a Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʷsih₂ (“axe”), from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp, pointed”). Cognate with Scots aix (“axe”), Dutch aks (“axe”), German Axt (“axe”), Danish økse (“axe”), Faroese and Norwegian øks (“axe”), Icelandic öxi (“axe”), Swedish yxa (“axe”), Latin ascia (“axe, mason's trowel”).
Derived from French axe, from Latin axis.
Derived from French axe, from Latin axis.
From Old English axian (“ask”); see ax for more.
Ultimately derived from Proto-Brythonic *Uɨsk, a river name perhaps originally meaning "abundant in fish". Cognate with the river names Esk, Exe, and Usk.
See also for "axe"
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