Axle
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Shoulder. obsolete
- 2 The pin or spindle on which a wheel revolves, or which revolves with a wheel.
"rear axle"
- 3 a shaft on which a wheel rotates wordnet
- 4 A transverse bar or shaft connecting the opposite wheels of a car or carriage; an axletree.
- 5 An axis. archaic
"the Sun’s axle"
Example
More examples"When I started to fix the language, I got wrapped around the axle."
Etymology
From Middle English axel, axle, eaxle, from Old English eaxl (“shoulder, armpit”), from Proto-West Germanic *ahslu (“shoulder”), from Proto-Germanic *ahslō (“shoulder”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs-l-eh₂, from *h₂eḱs- (“axis, axle”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian acsle (“shoulder”), Dutch oksel (“armpit”), German Achsel (“armpit”), Swedish axel (“shoulder”), Latin axilla (“armpit”), Latin axis (“axle”) (whence English axis, atelier, and via Latin āla English ala, aisle), Ancient Greek ἄξων (áxōn) (whence English axo-, axon), Greek άξονας (áxonas, “axle”), Sanskrit अक्ष (ákṣa, “axle”), Sanskrit कक्ष (kakṣá, “room, armpit”), Russian ось (osʹ, “axle”).
From Middle English axil, in turn a combination of Old English eax and Old Norse ǫxull.
Related phrases
More for "axle"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.