AX Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com

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ax

Or axe

[aks]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

plural

axes

an instrument with a bladed head on a handle or helve, used for hewing, cleaving, chopping, etc.
Jazz Slang.��any musical instrument.
Informal.��the ax,
1. dismissal from employment.
  to get the ax.
2. expulsion from school.
3. rejection by a lover, friend, etc..
  His girlfriend gave him the ax.
4. any usually summary removal or curtailment.

verb (used with object)

axed, axing

to shape or trim with an ax.
to chop, split, destroy, break open, etc., with an ax.
The firemen had to ax the door to reach the fire.
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.

ax-

variant of axi-, especially before a vowel.

ax.

abbreviation

axiom.

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Other 51�Թ� Forms

axlike adjective

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of ax¹

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 (< *�� ), Greek ��ī́��ŧ; < Indo-European *ag-s-

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

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.

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

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

As for the impressive flight sequences, in which Hiccup rides Toothless, the production created an animatronic dragon placed on a giant gimbal that moved on six different axes to simulate the physics of flying.

From

But despite taking an ax to social spending, the Republican reconciliation plan would also dramatically increase the federal deficit.

From

Representing as he does the non-expansion state of Georgia, he knows that red state governors like his own would be inclined to simply ax the expansion if given a fiscal pretext to hide behind.

From

So, I have a little bit of an ax to grind about it.

From

Holding an ax, she was portrayed as a murderous, wealth-seeking seductress who had beheaded her husbands, evident by their heads disappearing from the wedding portraits scattered around the attic.

From

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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