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. Also, axe.

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Ax is one of our favorite verbs.

So is kibitz. Does it mean:

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

chat, to converse

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Idiom

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.

Origin:
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 (< *acsiā), Greek axī́nē; < Indo-European *ag-s-

Related forms

ax·like, adjective

Example Sentences

She does things with her guitar that makes ax geeks go wild.

Last month poachers killed a rhino calf and removed its small horn using an ax.

Then he cut as quickly as he could and cauterized the stump with a red-hot ax.

EXPAND

Dictionary.com Unabridged

variant of axi-, especially before a vowel.

axiom.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To AX

Collins

World English Dictionary

axe or (US) ax (æks)

—n , pl axes
1.	See also hatchet a hand tool with one side of its head forged and sharpened to a cutting edge, used for felling trees, splitting timber, etc
2.	an axe to grind
	a. an ulterior motive
	b. a grievance
	c. a pet subject
3.	informal the axe
	a. dismissal, esp from employment; the sack (esp in the phrase get the axe)
	b. (Brit) severe cutting down of expenditure, esp the removal of unprofitable sections of a public service
4.	slang (US) any musical instrument, esp a guitar or horn

—vb
5.	to chop or trim with an axe
6.	informal to dismiss (employees), restrict (expenditure or services), or terminate (a project)

[Old English æx; related to Old Frisian axa, Old High German acchus, Old Norse öx, Latin ascia, Greek axinē]

ax or (US) ax

—n

—vb

[Old English æx; related to Old Frisian axa, Old High German acchus, Old Norse öx, Latin ascia, Greek axinē]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

O.E. æces (Northumbrian acas), later æx, from P.Gmc. *akusjo (cf. O.S. accus, O.N. ex, O.Fris. axe, Ger. Axt, Goth. aqizi), from PIE *agw(e)si- (cf. Gk. axine, L. ascia). Meaning "musical instrument" is 1955, originally jazz slang for the saxophone; rock slang for "guitar" dates to 1967.

EXPAND

The ax in fig. sense of cutting of anything (expenses, workers, etc.), especially as a cost-saving measure, is from 1922, probably from the notion of the headman's literal axe (itself attested from mid-15c.). To have an axe to grind is from an 1815 essay by U.S. newspaper editor Charles Miner (17801865) in which a man flatters a boy and gets him to do the chore of axe-grinding for him, then leaves without offering thanks or recompense. Misattributed to Benjamin Franklin in Weekley, OED print edition, and many other sources.

"The spelling ax is better on every ground, of etymology, phonology, and analogy, than axe, which became prevalent during the 19th century; but it is now disused in Britain." [OED]

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

ax abbr.
axis

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

AX
ask (shortwave transmission)

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

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