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] | |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. |
axe definition
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used in the Authorized Version of Deut. 19:5; 20:19; 1 Kings 6:7, as the translation of a Hebrew word which means "chopping." It was used for felling trees (Isa. 10:34) and hewing timber for building. It is the rendering of a different word in Judg. 9:48, 1 Sam. 13:20, 21, Ps. 74:5, which refers to its sharpness. In 2 Kings 6:5 it is the translation of a word used with reference to its being made of iron. In Isa. 44:12 the Revised Version renders by "axe" the Hebrew _maatsad_, which means a "hewing" instrument. In the Authorized Version it is rendered "tongs." It is also used in Jer. 10:3, and rendered "axe." The "battle-axe" (army of Medes and Persians) mentioned in Jer. 51:20 was probably, as noted in the margin of the Revised Version, a "maul" or heavy mace. In Ps. 74:6 the word so rendered means "feller." (See the figurative expression in Matt. 3:10; Luke 3:9.)