What is "axe"

Axe \Axe\, Axeman \Axe"man\, etc. See Ax, Axman.

Ax \Ax\, Axe \Axe\, ([a^]ks), 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. 'axi`nh, 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).

1670s, "to shape or cut with an axe," from axe (n.). Meaning "to remove, severely reduce," usually figurative, recorded by 1922. Related: Axed; axing.

Old English æces (Northumbrian acas) "axe, pickaxe, hatchet," later æx, from Proto-Germanic *akusjo (cognates: Old Saxon accus, Old Norse ex, Old Frisian axe, German Axt, Gothic aqizi), from PIE *agw(e)si- (cognates: Greek axine, Latin ascia).\n\nThe spelling ax is better on every ground, of etymology, phonology, and analogy, than axe, which became prevalent during the 19th century; but it is now disused in Britain. [OED]\n

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\nThe spelling ax, though "better on every ground, of etymology, phonology, & analogy" (OED), is so strange to 20th-c. eyes that it suggests pedantry & is unlikely to be restored.

[Fowler]

Etymology 1 alt. 1 A tool for felling trees or chopping wood etc. consisting of a heavy head flattened to a blade on one side, and a handle attached to it. 2 An ancient weapon consisting of a head that has one or two blades and a long handle. 3 (context informal English) A dismissal or rejection. 4 (context slang music English) A gig musician's particular instrument, especially a guitar in rock music or a saxophone in jazz. 5 (context finance English) A directional position or interest, by a dealer in a financial market – if one wishes to unload stock, one is “axed to sell” or “has an axe”., Risk magazine Derived from “have an axe to grind”, which is also used. n. 1 A tool for felling trees or chopping wood etc. consisting of a heavy head flattened to a blade on one side, and a handle attached to it. 2 An ancient weapon consisting of a head that has one or two blades and a long handle. 3 (context informal English) A dismissal or rejection. 4 (context slang music English) A gig musician's particular instrument, especially a guitar in rock music or a saxophone in jazz. 5 (context finance English) A directional position or interest, by a dealer in a financial market – if one wishes to unload stock, one is “axed to sell” or “has an axe”., Risk magazine Derived from “have an axe to grind”, which is also used. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To fell or chop with an axe. 2 (context transitive English) To terminate or reduce tremendously in a rough or ruthless manner. 3 (context transitive English) To lay off: to terminate a person's employment Etymology 2

alt. (context archaic English) The axle of a wheel. n. (context archaic English) The axle of a wheel. vb. To furnish with an axle. Etymology 3

vb. (context obsolete or dialectal English) (alternative form of ask English)

n. an edge tool with a heavy bladed head mounted across a handle [syn: ax]

1. v. chop or split with an ax; "axe wood" [syn: ax]

2. terminate; "The NSF axed the research program and stopped funding it" [syn: ax]

Axe is a hard rock band from Texas, USA, formed in 1979.

An axe (or ax) is a tool with a metal blade, commonly used to split wood, also historically used as a weapon.

Axe or ax may also refer to:

Axe (known as Lynx in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and People's Republic of China) is a brand of male grooming products, owned by the Anglo- Dutch company Unilever and marketed towards the young male demographic.

Axe (original title: Lisa, Lisa; released theatrically as California Axe Massacre) is a 1974 American exploitation horror film written and directed by Frederick R. Friedel and starring Leslie Lee. The film is one of the infamous " video nasties" that was banned in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s.

Axé is a popular music genre originating in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil approximately in 1986, fusing different Afro-Caribbean genres, such as Marcha, Reggae, and Calypso. It also includes influences of Brazilian music such as Frevo, Forró and Carixada. The most important creator of this music style was Alfredo Moura, conducting Carlinhos Brown, Luiz Caldas, Sarajane and others. The word " axé" comes from a Yoruba religious greeting used in the Candomblé and Umbanda religions that means "soul", "light", "spirit" or "good vibration".

An axe (in American English also spelled ax) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has many forms and specialised uses but generally consists of an axe head with a handle, or helve.

Before the modern axe, the stone-age hand axe was used from 1.5 million years BP without a handle. It was later fastened to a wooden handle. The earliest examples of handled axes have heads of stone with some form of wooden handle attached ( hafted) in a method to suit the available materials and use. Axes made of copper, bronze, iron, and steel appeared as these technologies developed. Axes are usually composed of a head and a handle.

The axe is an example of a simple machine, as it is a type of wedge, or dual inclined plane. This reduces the effort needed by the wood chopper. It splits the wood into two parts by the pressure concentration at the blade. The handle of the axe also acts as a lever allowing the user to increase the force at the cutting edge—not using the full length of the handle is known as choking the axe. For fine chopping using a side axe this sometimes is a positive effect, but for felling with a double bitted axe it reduces efficiency.

Generally, cutting axes have a shallow wedge angle, whereas splitting axes have a deeper angle. Most axes are double bevelled, i.e. symmetrical about the axis of the blade, but some specialist broadaxes have a single bevel blade, and usually an offset handle that allows them to be used for finishing work without putting the user's knuckles at risk of injury. Less common today, they were once an integral part of a joiner and carpenter's tool kit, not just a tool for use in forestry. A tool of similar origin is the billhook. However, in France and Holland the billhook often replaced the axe as a joiner's bench tool.

Most modern axes have steel heads and wooden handles, typically hickory in the US and ash in Europe, although plastic or fibreglass handles are also common. Modern axes are specialised by use, size, and form. Hafted axes with short handles designed for use with one hand are often called hand axes but the term hand axe refers to axes without handles as well. Hatchets tend to be small hafted axes often with a hammer on the back side (the poll). As easy-to-make weapons, axes have frequently been used in combat.