Poleaxe

//ˈpoʊlˌæks// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An ax having both a blade and a hammer face; used to slaughter cattle.
  2. 2
    a battle ax used in the Middle Ages; a long handled ax and a pick wordnet
  3. 3
    A long-handled battle axe, being a combination of ax, hammer and pike. historical
  4. 4
    an ax used to slaughter cattle; has a hammer opposite the blade wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To fell someone with, or as if with, a poleaxe. transitive
  2. 2
    fell with or as if with a poleax wordnet
  3. 3
    To astonish; to shock or surprise utterly. figuratively, transitive

    "Lisa Griffin, who runs Brew Rock and an Irish pub in nearby Benidorm, was as poleaxed by the announcement as her customers were."

  4. 4
    To stymie, thwart, cripple, paralyze. figuratively, transitive

    "After a lacklustre campaign that has failed to grapple with Germany’s looming problems, the world should expect post-election coalition talks to last for months, poleaxing European politics while they drag on."

Synonyms

All synonyms
poleaxpoleaxpoleax

Example

More examples

"He in the forefront, tallest of the tall, / poleaxe in hand, unhinging at a stroke / the brazen portals, made the doorway fall, / and wide-mouthed as a window, through the oak, / a panelled plank hewn out, a yawning rent he broke."

Etymology

From earlier pollax, from poll (“head”) + axe, with the spelling influenced by pole.

Related phrases

battle axpole hammer

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.