axeaxn.1
/aks/, U.S. /æks/ 1.
a. A tool or instrument for hewing, cleaving, or chopping, trees, wood, ice, etc.; consisting of a squarish head, now usually of iron with a steel edge or blade, fixed by means of a socket upon a handle or helve of wood, so as to be wielded with force in striking. Also called, especially when of smaller or lighter make, a hatchet.In ancient times axes were also made of bronze or stone (see 4), and might have the head and handle in one piece, as coal-axes and other special forms still have.brick-axe, hammer-axe, pickaxe, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > axe > [noun]
axec1000
belta1325
Douglas1900
c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) iii. 10 Eallunga ys seo æx to þæra treowa wurtrumum asett. [Lindisf. Acas, Rushw. axe].
c1160 Hatton G. Matt. iii. 10 Syo æx.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 103 Aȝeinþe cul of þe axe.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 77 Wudemonnes echȝe.
a1250 Owl & Nightingale 658 Hong up thin ax.
1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. 490 A kene ax him sulf he huld.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. x. 15 Whether shal glorien the ax aȝen hym that hewith with it.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. clxii. 1056 Cloue wiþ ax or wiþ sawe.
a1400 Sir Degrev. 325 Wyth scharpe exus of stelle He playtede here basnetus welle.
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 144 Ex, instrument. Securis.
?a1500 Nominale (Yale Beinecke 594) in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 807/17 Hec securis, a hax.
1504 in Archaeologia (1846) 31 208 ij. yaxronges weyeng iiij li. et di.
1568 Christis Kirk on Grene in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. 268 Dik wt ane aix Come furt to fell a fidder.
1611 Bible (King James) Judges ix. 48 Abimelech tooke an axe..and cut downe a bough. View more context for this quotation
1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 239 The bark was never allowed to be taken off below the ax, or the place where the tree was cut.
1808 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Yaxe, an axe, Buchan.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. §11. 79 Driving the iron claws of our boots into the scars [in the ice] made by the axe.
1877 W. C. Bryant Song of Sower iv Whose sounding axes gleam Beside the lonely forest-stream.
1884 Scotsman 4 July 5/1 The silver axe..recently presented to Mr. Gladstone by ‘a few admiring friends.’
b. the axe (figurative): the cutting down of expenditure in the public services; the body appointed to do this. Also in other extended uses, esp. the dismissal of an employee.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > expenditure > moderation or reduction in expenditure > [noun] > in public expenditure
the axe1922
1922 Glasgow Herald 5 Oct. 7 Another class of military officers for some of whom assistance..may be needed are those who are the unhappy victims of the Geddes economy ‘axe’.
1923 Times 16 Mar. 12/1 Army and the ‘axe’. Limit of safety reached... No fewer than 1,500 officers had fallen before the Geddes axe.
1926 Encycl. Brit. New Suppl. II. 160/2 Sir Eric [Geddes] himself was appointed in Aug. 1921 chairman of a small committee, later known as the ‘Geddes Axe’, to recommend public economies to the Government.
1926 Times Lit. Suppl. 21 Jan. The Inchcape Axe has not deprived students of the Memoirs issued by the Archæological Survey.
1958 Economist 1 Nov. 390/1 Capital formation should never again become the first candidate for the axe when times for restraint recur.
2. In olden warfare: A battle-axe.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > sharp weapon > axe > [noun]
wi-axc897
hand-axeOE
wifleOE
axec1275
poleaxe1294
Danish axe1297
hache1322
gisarmea1325
pollhache1324
spartha1363
battle-axec1380
the sheenc1400
sparc1440
Welsh glaive1483
twibit1510
twibill1558
tomahawkc1612
two-billc1619
sagaris1623
francisca1683
tom-axe1759
tomahawk1761
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 1132 He lædde on his exle ane muchele wi-eax.
a1400 Cov. Myst. (1841) 270 With exys, gleyvis, and swerdys bryth.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xii. 20 [Bruce] raid..with ane ax in hande.
c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy v. 1588 Armurers and arowsmythes with axes of werre.
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey I. iii. 561 The axe was held by warlike Thrasymed.
1775 S. Johnson Journey W. Islands 264 The Lochaber-ax is only a slight alteration of the old English bill.
1869 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1874) III. xv. 463 The iron mace of the Bastard, the one weapon fit to meet..with the two-handed axe of Harold.
1869 C. Boutell tr. J. P. Lacombe Arms & Armour vi. 91 The offensive arms are, first, the Axe, Hatchet or Francisque.
3. The headsman's axe used to decapitate condemned traitors. Hence figurative execution.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > capital punishment > [noun] > infliction of
justice?a1160
executionc1360
axe1450
justifying1487
society > authority > punishment > capital punishment > [noun] > beheading > sword or axe
swordc1384
axe1450
heading axec1480
heading swordc1480
1450 W. Somner in Four C. Eng. Lett. 4 Ther was an exe, and a stoke, and oon of the lewdeste of the shippe badde him ley down his hedde.
1551 King Edward VI in J. G. Nichols Literary Remains Edward VI (1858) II. 374 And so departed without the ax of the Toure.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iv. ii. 51 You sirrah, prouide your blocke and your Axe . View more context for this quotation
1721 E. Young Revenge iv. i A third..Gave to the cruel ax a darling son.
1748 D. Hume Philos. Ess. Human Understanding viii. 145 From the Operation of the Ax or Wheel.
4. In Archaeology (see quot.).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > tool > types of tools generally > prehistoric tool > [noun] > types of
flintstonec1400
celt1748
fairy hammer1815
axe1851
flint-flake1851
stone-axe1864
flake-knife1865
scraper1865
thumb-flint1865
tool-stone1865
saddle quern1867
fabricator1872
grattoir1872
hammer-stone1872
tribrach1873
flake1875
hand-axe1878
pick1888
turtle-back1890
racloir1892
eolith1895
pebble chopper1895
palaeotalith1897
tranchet1899
point1901
pygmy flint1907
microlith1908
Gravette1911
keeled scraper1911
lissoir1911
coup de poing1912
end-scraper1915
burin1916
rostro-carinate1919
tortoise core1919
blade1921
axe-adze1925
petit tranchet1926
tournette1927
pebble tool1931
raclette1932
biface1934
cleaver1935
thumbnail scraper1937
microblade1959
linguate1966
1851 D. Wilson Archæol. & Prehistoric Ann. Scotl. i. vi. 136 The name of Axe..applied to the double-edged stone implements, and to those of a wedge-shape, which have the aperture for inserting the handle near the broad end.
1877 W. Greenwell Brit. Barrows 136 A small polished green-stone axe.
5. A musical instrument; formerly esp. a saxophone, now usually a guitar. slang (chiefly Jazz and Rock Music).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > [noun]
organeOE
orgleeOE
gleea1225
instrumentc1300
organum1342
organyc1400
musicala1450
musical instrument?c1450
organ1772
dulcimer1890
axe1955
1955 L. Feather Encycl. Jazz (1956) 345 Ax, axe, horn, instrument (usually saxophone).
1956 O. Duke Sideman ii. 25 You wanta make it with me tonight? Bring your ax, man, blow some.
1962 ‘E. McBain’ Like Love vii. 100 The musical jargon of Hip..‘he peddled the ax to buy the junk, so now he can't blow anyway.’
1967 Melody Maker 23 Dec. 8/5 ‘For Pete's sake Ali you're on now, this minute…’ ‘Listen, man. Don't have my axe, man.’
1969 Rolling Stone 17 May 8/4 While Keith bashes madly on the drums,..Pete Townsend disposes of his axe with good natured dispatch.
1976 New Musical Express 12 Feb. 37/3 There's not the slightest hint of killer axe interplay or dazzling musical cut and thrust.
1982 Sounds 11 Dec. As a flashing axe, it takes some beating.
Phrases
P1. to put the axe in the helve: to solve a doubt, to find out a puzzle. to send the axe after the helve (= to throw the helve after the hatchet at helve n. 1b).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > resolving of problem, solution > solve [phrase]
to put the axe in the helvea1450
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > danger > face danger [verb (intransitive)] > risk oneself > risk everything
to throw at allc1400
to send the axe after the helvea1450
to throw the helve after the hatchet1546
to go the vole1816
to go for broke1935
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail xxviii. l. 410 Ȝit Cowde he not putten the Ex In þe helve.
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. ix. sig. Liiv Here I sende thaxe after the helue awaie.
P2. to have axes to grind (originally U.S. Politics): to have private ends to serve [in reference to a story told by Franklin] ; now more commonly to have an axe to grind.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > self-interest > seek or look after one's own interest [verb (intransitive)] > have private ends to serve
to have axes to grind1815
1815 C. Miner Who'll turn Grindstones? When I see a merchant over-polite to his customers..thinks I, that man has an axe to grind.
1865 J. G. Holland Plain Talks v. 188 Little cliques and cabals composed of men who have axes to grind.
1881 Daily Tel. 8 June 6/2 The hands..that ‘grind the axe,’ and that ‘pull the strings.’
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xvi. [Eumaeus] 595 Skin-the-Goats..evidently with an axe to grind, was airing his grievances.
1939 G. B. Shaw Geneva ii. p. 30 Distinguished statesmen of different nations..each with a national axe to grind.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a. Also axeman n., ax-stone n., ax-fitch n., ax-seed n., axwort n.
axe-edge n.
ΚΠ
1865 A. C. Swinburne Chastelard v. ii. 202 Suppose my mouth The axe-edge to bite so sweet a throat in twain.
axe-handle n.
ΚΠ
1865 J. Lubbock Prehist. Times v. 132 In some places these horn axe-handles are numerous.
axe-head n.
ΚΠ
1611 Bible (King James) 2 Kings vi. 5 The axe head [Coverdale the yron] fell into the water. View more context for this quotation
1851 D. Wilson Archæol. & Prehistoric Ann. Scotl. i. vi. 129 Stone celts and axe heads, mostly made of..hard green stone.
axe-shaft n.
ΚΠ
1815 W. Scott Lord of Isles vi. xv. 242 The axe-shaft, with its brazen clasp.
b.
axe-form adj.
axe-like adj.
ΚΠ
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess ii. 33 An iron will, An axelike edge unturnable.
axe-shaped adj.
C2.
axe-adze n. a double-bladed tool, consisting of an axe and adze combined.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > axe > [noun] > two-edged
twibilla1000
besaguec1430
twyvetec1500
twibit1510
axe-adze1925
society > occupation and work > equipment > tool > types of tools generally > prehistoric tool > [noun] > types of
flintstonec1400
celt1748
fairy hammer1815
axe1851
flint-flake1851
stone-axe1864
flake-knife1865
scraper1865
thumb-flint1865
tool-stone1865
saddle quern1867
fabricator1872
grattoir1872
hammer-stone1872
tribrach1873
flake1875
hand-axe1878
pick1888
turtle-back1890
racloir1892
eolith1895
pebble chopper1895
palaeotalith1897
tranchet1899
point1901
pygmy flint1907
microlith1908
Gravette1911
keeled scraper1911
lissoir1911
coup de poing1912
end-scraper1915
burin1916
rostro-carinate1919
tortoise core1919
blade1921
axe-adze1925
petit tranchet1926
tournette1927
pebble tool1931
raclette1932
biface1934
cleaver1935
thumbnail scraper1937
microblade1959
linguate1966
1925 V. G. Childe Dawn European Civilization ii. 34 From Early Minoan II the Cretans knew a curious implement with one blade parallel and the other at right angles to the shaft, called an ‘axe-adze’.
1928 C. Dawson Age of Gods xii. 268 The type known as an ‘axe-adze’, with its blades set transversely to one another, which is probably the model of the Nordic battle-axe.
axe-breaker n. Australian name given to a tree Notelæa longifolia.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular timber trees or shrubs > non-British timber trees > [noun] > Australasian
tallow-tree1704
rata1773
rosewood1779
red mahogany1798
ironbark1799
wild orange1802
red gum1803
rewarewa1817
red cedar1818
black-butted gum1820
Huon pine1820
miro1820
oak1821
horoeka1831
hinau1832
maire1832
totara1832
blackbutt1833
marri1833
raspberry jam tree1833
kohekohe1835
puriri1835
tawa1839
hickory1840
whau1840
pukatea1841
titoki1842
butterbush1843
iron gum1844
York gum1846
mangeao1848
myall1848
ironheart1859
lilly-pilly1860
belah1862
flindosa1862
jarrah1866
silky oak1866
teak of New South Wales1866
Tolosa-wood1866
turmeric-tree1866
walking-stick palm1869
tooart1870
queenwood1873
tarairi1873
boree1878
yate1880
axe-breaker1884
bangalay1884
coachwood1884
cudgerie1884
feather-wood1884
forest mahogany1884
maiden's blush1884
swamp mahogany1884
tallow-wood1884
teak of New Zealand1884
wandoo1884
heartwood1885
ivorywood1887
Jimmy Low1887
Burdekin plum1889
corkwood1889
pigeon-berry ash1889
red beech1889
silver beech1889
turnip-wood1891
black bean1895
red bean1895
pinkwood1898
poplar1898
rose mahogany1898
quandong1908
lancewood1910
New Zealand honeysuckle1910
Queensland walnut1919
mahogany gum1944
Australian mahogany1948
1884 A. Nilson Timber Trees New S. Wales 133 Axebreaker.
1889 J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants Austral. 579 Axe-breaker. Wood hard, close-grained and firm.
axe-grinder n.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > self-interest > [noun] > self-interested person
propertarya1425
proprietary?c1450
self-seeker1585
turn-server1611
propriétaire1789
axe-grinder1884
main chancer1940
1884 G. Dolby Dickens viii. 227 Willard's Hotel..with its clientèle of bar-loafers, swaggerers, drunkards, and ‘axe-grinders’ (a class of politician peculiar to Washington hotels).
1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Victorian Era 12/2 Axe-grinders (American). Men who grumble, especially political.
1916 E. V. Lucas Vermilion Box lii. 57 I have known many journalists, but hardly one who was not either a cynic or an axe-grinder, or both.
axe-grinding adj. having private ends to serve (see sense 5).
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > self-interest > [noun] > action
self-care1567
self-seeking1574
turn-serving1584
self-service1627
privateering1671
axe-grinding1865
1865 G. A. Sala My Diary in Amer. I. 421 ‘Axe-grinding’ is a term borrowed from one of the most charming stories told by the great apologist of shrewd common-sense, Benjamin Franklin.
1942 Sphere 27 June 409/2 Criticisms in the House of Commons and the newspapers are based largely on ignorance or axe-grinding.
axe-hammer n. a tool consisting of an axe and hammer combined; cf. hammer-axe n. at hammer n.1 Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > driving or beating tools > [noun] > hammer > other hammers
hand-hammereOE
maulc1225
plating hammer1543
bucker1653
axe-hammer1681
brick hammer1688
chipping hammer1783
tup1848
clinch-hammer1850
tack-hammer1865
bucking hammer1875
bloat1881
ringer1883
key hammer1884
peen hammer1885
straight pein1904
toffee hammer1958
1681 in Rec. Court of New Castle on Delaware (1904) 476 (D.A.E.) Hee would beat him out with the ax hammer.
1928 H. Peake & H. J. Fleure Steppe & Sown ii. 20 They used as their distinctive weapon a perforated axe-hammer of stone.
1950 H. L. Lorimer Homer & Monuments iv. 122 The bronze axe-hammer from Delphi may also come thence.
Draft additions September 2013
axe-helve n.
ΚΠ
1550 in E. W. Harcourt Papers (1876) I. 21 Every Browser to have to his lodging every night one Billet of wood the length of his ax-helve.
1730 J. Hempstead Diary 11 Mar. (1998) 218 I made an ax helve for Gersh.
1847 W. T. Porter Quarter Race Kentucky 45 He picked up an ole axe helve an gin me a wipe aside the hed that laid me cole fur a while.
1995 Antioch Rev. 53 16 I had noticed their suitcases on the racks, each with a strap around it and each with an axe-helve under the strap.
Draft additions September 2013
axe-hewn adj.
ΚΠ
1641 N. Homes New World 6 The small handfull of Axe-hewen, or bloodshed martyrs.
1854 Chambers's Repository 11 20 A steep bank of slippery ice is climbed in zigzag lines, and by means of axe-hewn steps.
1936 I. L. Idriess Cattle King v. 43 The few beds were of axe-hewn mulga.
2003 Tel. Herald (Dubuque, Iowa) (Nexis) 10 Feb. a1 Wide, ax-hewn notches hold the cabin's weathered logs in place.
Draft additions September 2013
axe murderer n. a person who commits murder with an axe, esp. regarded as epitomizing a violent psychopathic criminal.
ΚΠ
1912 N.Y. Times 3 Mar. ii. 7/1 (heading) Voodoo doctors join the mysterious axe murderers in spreading panic among the natives.
2005 H. Mantel Beyond Black ix. 299 It was natural for Mart to want to tell his life story..just to reassure her that he wasn't an axe murderer.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
† axen.2
Obsolete.
Byform of axis n.1
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > revolution or rotation > [noun] > axis
spindle?c1343
centre?c1400
ax-tree1430
axe1551
cleat1611
spin axis1922
1551 R. Record Pathway to Knowl. i. Def. A right line drawen crosse these figures..called an axe lyne, or axtre.
1570 H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. xi. f. 316v A Sphere..may haue infinite diameters, but it can haue but onely one axe.
1755 J. Bevis tr. Mr. de St. Jacques Silvabelle in Philos. Trans. 1754 (Royal Soc.) 48 388 The inclination of the earth's axe.
1796 C. Hutton Math. & Philos. Dict. (new ed.) I. 178 The chief properties of the Axe-in-peritrochio.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
axeaxv.
/aks/, U.S. /æks/ 1. transitive. To shape or trim with an axe.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > working with tools or equipment > work with tools or equipment [verb (transitive)] > shaping tool
behewc1314
turn?c1335
chisel1517
hew1617
axe1700
rout1818
block1831
swage1831
jigsaw1873
router1890
hot-press1947
1700 Moxon's Mech. Exercises: Bricklayers-wks. 9 To Ax the Brick off, with an Ax that is exactly streight on the edge.
1823 P. Nicholson New Pract. Builder 389 The..stretchers in returns, which are not axed, are dressed upon the rubbing-stone.
2. To remove (officials, etc.) to save expenditure; to cut down (expenditure, etc.) by means of ‘the axe’.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > removal from office or authority > remove from office or authority [verb (transitive)]
outOE
deposec1300
remuec1325
to put out1344
to set downc1369
deprivec1374
outputa1382
removea1382
to throw outa1382
to put downc1384
privea1387
to set adowna1387
to put out of ——?a1400
amovec1425
disappoint1434
unmakec1475
dismiss1477
dispoint1483
voidc1503
to set or put beside (or besides) the cushion1546
relieve1549
cass1550
displace1553
unauthorize1554
to wring out1560
seclude1572
eject1576
dispost1577
decass1579
overboard1585
cast1587
sequester1587
to put to grass1589
cashier1592
discompose1599
abdicate1610
unseat1611
dismount1612
disoffice1627
to take off1642
unchair1645
destitute1653
lift1659
resign1674
quietus1688
superannuate1692
derange1796
shelve1812
shelf1819
Stellenbosch1900
defenestrate1917
axe1922
retire1961
society > trade and finance > management of money > expenditure > moderation or reduction in expenditure > spend money sparingly [verb (transitive)] > reduce expenditure > public
axe1922
1922 Glasgow Herald 5 Oct. 7 The ‘axed’ officer.
1923 Hansard Commons CLXI. 1832 Fifteen hundred officers have been axed under the Geddes recommendation.
1923 Hansard Commons CLXI. 1852 It is partly due to axing.
1923 Daily Mail 28 June 10 Lord Inchcape, the chairman of the Committee which recently ‘axed’ the expenditure of the Services in India.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1c1000
n.21551v.1700