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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Poleax

Poleax \Pole"ax`\, Poleaxe \Pole"axe`\, n. [OE. pollax; cf. OD. pollexe. See Poll head, and Ax.] Anciently, a kind of battle-ax with a long handle; later, an ax or hatchet with a short handle, and a head variously patterned; -- used by soldiers, and also by sailors in boarding a vessel.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
poleax

kind of axe used as a weapon or by butchers, c.1300, pollax, from pol "head" (see poll (n.)) + ax (n.). From notion of beheading or head-splitting, or perhaps from the shape of the ax. Spelling altered 17c. by confusion with pole (n.1)).

Wiktionary
poleax

n. (alternative spelling of poleaxe English) vb. (alternative spelling of poleaxe English)

WordNet
poleax
  1. n. an ax used to slaughter cattle; has a hammer opposite the blade [syn: poleaxe]

  2. a battle ax used in the Middle Ages; a long handled ax and a pick [syn: poleaxe]

  3. v. fell with or as if with a poleax [syn: poleaxe]

Usage examples of "poleax".

He glanced around quickly to target the source of the missile, but instead his eyes beheld the mammoth figure with the immense poleax bearing down on him with a deadly speed.

Grunthor swung the flaming poleax over toward him and held the enormous pike steady.

Cimmerian saw that the man called Zal was advancing with a heavy poleax, while Red Turban was scrambling to his feet.

Then, as Zal raised the poleax, Conan darted in under the blow, and the next instant Zal was down, writhing in his own blood and entrails.

She stabbed and hacked with a poleax that had replaced her pruning hook, her eyes narrowed with grim determination.

She held her poleax in her hand, and her violet eyes shone with a fervent light.

She stood on guard near the outer door, her poleax clutched in her hands as if she longed to use it on someone.

Although her posture was relaxed, Suchen noted that she kept a ready grip on the poleax she carried.

She gripped her poleax so hard that her knuckles had gone white, and the look in her violet eyes promised death.

Her brown hair spread out around her pale, still face, and her hands clutched the poleax she had fought with.

Cut off and alone, a flashily dressed, beefy man swung a poleax with such force that it severed the foreleg of a passing horse.

He considered a grate-bar from a heating furnace, and then he found the poleax, lying among a pile of wormeaten boards.