# axe

Pronunciation: say "AKS" /æks/

## Noun

1. A tool with a heavy sharpened blade on a handle, used for chopping wood or felling trees, and also used as a weapon.
   - Simple: A tool with a heavy, sharp blade on a long handle, used to chop wood, or as a weapon.
   - _She sharpened the axe before heading out to chop firewood._
   - _A sturdy axe can fell a small tree in just a few strokes._
3. A dismissal from a job or a rejection, or the cancellation or sharp cutting of something such as a budget or program. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Being fired from a job or dropped, or a big cut to money or a plan, as in get the axe.
   - _Three senior managers got the axe in the latest reshuffle._
   - _The director gave the axe to half the marketing team._
4. The instrument a working musician plays on the job, typically the guitar for rock players and the saxophone for jazz players. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A musician's main instrument, especially an electric guitar or a saxophone.
   - _He plugged in his axe and tore through the opening riff._
   - _The saxophonist wiped down her axe between sets._

## Verb

2. To cancel, cut back sharply, or dismiss someone from a job, often abruptly and without mercy.
   - Simple: To cancel something, cut it back a lot, or fire someone, often suddenly and harshly.
   - _The network plans to axe the popular show after poor ratings._
   - _Budget cuts forced the city to axe several after-school programs._
5. To cut down or split wood by striking it with an axe.
   - Simple: To chop down or split wood with a sharp-bladed tool.
   - _Every autumn my grandfather axed enough oak to keep the stove burning all winter._
   - _Volunteers will axe the storm-damaged limbs before winter._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A dealer's or trader's interest in buying or selling a particular security, which can shape the prices or advice they give.
- (noun) The axle of a wheel: the central shaft or pin on which the wheel turns.
- (verb) To provide or fit something with an axle.

## Origin

From Middle English "ax," from Old English "æx," going back through Proto-Germanic to a possible Proto-Indo-European root meaning "sharp, pointed." Related words include German "Axt," Dutch "aks," and Latin "ascia."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/axe (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).