Adjacent Words

Ax definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

AX, n. improperly written axe. [Gr.]
An instrument usually of iron, for hewing timber and chopping wood. It consists of a head with an arching edge, and a helve or handle. The ax is of two kinds, the broad ax for hewing, and the narrow ax for rough-hewing and cutting. The hatchet is a small ax to be used with one hand.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an edge tool with a heavy bladed head mounted across a handle [syn: ax, axe] v
1: chop or split with an ax; "axe wood" [syn: axe, ax]
2: terminate; "The NSF axed the research program and stopped funding it" [syn: ax, axe]

Merriam Webster's

biographical name Emanuel 1949- American (Ukrainian-born of Polish parents) pianist

Merriam Webster's

I. noun or axe Etymology: Middle English, from Old English æcs; akin to Old High German ackus ax, Latin ascia, Greek axin? Date: before 12th century 1. a cutting tool that consists of a heavy edged head fixed to a handle with the edge parallel to the handle and that is used especially for felling trees and chopping and splitting wood 2. a hammer with a sharp edge for dressing or spalling stone 3. abrupt removal (as from employment or from a budget) — sometimes used in the phrase get the ax 4. a musical instrument (as a guitar or a saxophone) II. transitive verb or axe (axed; axing) Date: 1677 1. a. to shape, dress, or trim with an ax b. to chop, split, or sever with an ax 2. to remove abruptly (as from employment or from a budget) III. abbreviation 1. axiom 2. axis

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ax Ax, Axe Axe,, n. [OE. ax, axe, AS. eax, [ae]x, acas; akin to D. akse, OS. accus, OHG. acchus, G. axt, Icel. ["o]x, ["o]xi, Sw. yxe, Dan. ["o]kse, Goth. aqizi, Gr. ?, L. ascia; not akin to E. acute.] A tool or instrument of steel, or of iron with a steel edge or blade, for felling trees, chopping and splitting wood, hewing timber, etc. It is wielded by a wooden helve or handle, so fixed in a socket or eye as to be in the same plane with the blade. The broadax, or carpenter's ax, is an ax for hewing timber, made heavier than the chopping ax, and with a broader and thinner blade and a shorter handle. Note: The ancient battle-ax had sometimes a double edge. Note: The word is used adjectively or in combination; as, axhead or ax head; ax helve; ax handle; ax shaft; ax-shaped; axlike. Note: This word was originally spelt with e, axe; and so also was nearly every corresponding word of one syllable: as, flaxe, taxe, waxe, sixe, mixe, pixe, oxe, fluxe, etc. This superfluous e is not dropped; so that, in more than a hundred words ending in x, no one thinks of retaining the e except in axe. Analogy requires its exclusion here. Note: ``The spelling ax is better on every ground, of etymology, phonology, and analogy, than axe, which has of late become prevalent.'' --New English Dict. (Murray).

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ax Ax, v. t. & i. [OE. axien and asken. See Ask.] To ask; to inquire or inquire of. Note: This word is from Saxon, and is as old as the English language. Formerly it was in good use, but now is regarded as a vulgarism. It is still dialectic in England, and is sometimes heard among the uneducated in the United States. ``And Pilate axide him, Art thou king of Jewis?'' ``Or if he axea fish.'' --Wyclif. 'bdThe king axed after your Grace's welfare.'' --Pegge.

Dictionary of Ro

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Moby Thesaurus

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