ax (redirected from axed)

ax ¹ or axe  (ks)

n. pl. ax·es (ksz)

1. A tool with a bladed, usually heavy head mounted crosswise on a handle, used for felling trees or chopping wood.

2. Any of various bladed, hand-held implements used as a cutting tool or weapon.

3. Informal A sudden termination of employment: My colleague got the ax yesterday.

4. Slang A musical instrument, especially a guitar.

tr.v. axed, ax·ing, ax·es

1. To chop or fell with or as if with an ax: axed down the saplings; axed out a foothold in the ice.

2. Informal To remove ruthlessly or suddenly: a social program that was axed to effectuate budget cuts.

Idiom:

ax to grind

A selfish or ulterior aim: He claimed to be disinterested, but I knew he had an ax to grind.

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[Middle English, from Old English æx.]

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ax ²  (ks)

v. ax·ed, ax·ing, ax·es Nonstandard

Variant of ask.

Our Living Language Ax, a common nonstandard variant of ask, is often identified as an especially salient feature of African American Vernacular English. While it is true that the form is frequent in the speech of African Americans, it used to be common in the speech of white Americans as well, especially in the South and in the middle sections of the U.S. It was once common among New Englanders, but has largely died out there as a local feature. The widespread use of this pronunciation should not be surprising since ax is a very old word in English, having been used in England for over 1,000 years. In Old English we find both scian and csian, and in Middle English both asken and axen. Moreover, the forms with cs or x had no stigma associated with them. Chaucer used asken and axen interchangeably, as in the lines "I wol aske, if it hir will be/To be my wyf" and "Men axed hym, what sholde bifalle," both from The Canterbury Tales. The forms in x arose from the forms in sk by a linguistic process called metathesis, in which two sounds are reversed. The x thus represents (ks), the flipped version of (sk). Metathesis is a common linguistic process around the world and does not arise from a defect in speaking. Nevertheless, ax has become stigmatized as substandarda fate that has befallen other words, like ain't, that were once perfectly acceptable in literate circles.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	ax - an edge tool with a heavy bladed head mounted across a handle axe ax handle, axe handle - the handle of an ax ax head, axe head - the cutting head of an ax blade - the flat part of a tool or weapon that (usually) has a cutting edge broadax, broadaxe - a large ax with a broad cutting blade common ax, common axe, Dayton ax, Dayton axe - an ax with a long handle and a head that has one cutting edge and one blunt side double-bitted ax, double-bitted axe, Western ax, Western axe - an ax that has cutting edges on both sides of the head edge tool - any cutting tool with a sharp cutting edge (as a chisel or knife or plane or gouge) fireman's ax, fireman's axe - an ax that has a long handle and a head with one cutting edge and a point on the other side haft, helve - the handle of a weapon or tool hatchet - a small ax with a short handle used with one hand (usually to chop wood) ice ax, ice axe, piolet - an ax used by mountain climbers for cutting footholds in ice poleax, poleaxe - an ax used to slaughter cattle; has a hammer opposite the blade
Verb	1.	ax - chop or split with an ax; "axe wood" axe hack, chop - cut with a hacking tool
	2.	ax - terminate; "The NSF axed the research program and stopped funding it" axe terminate, end - bring to an end or halt; "She ended their friendship when she found out that he had once been convicted of a crime"; "The attack on Poland terminated the relatively peaceful period after WW I"

Translations

ax → بَلْطَة sekyra økse Beil τσεκούρι hacha kirves hache sjekira ascia 斧 도끼 bijl øks siekiera machado топор yxa ขวาน balta cái rìu 斧子