ax
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ax 1
(ăks)n. & v.
Variant of axe.
ax 2
(ăks) or axev. ax·ed, ax·ing, ax·es Nonstandard
Variant of ask.
Our Living Language Ax, a nonstandard variant of ask, is often identified as an especially salient feature of African American Vernacular English. The usage occurs most frequently in the speech of Southern, working-class African Americans, but it occurs occasionally in the speech of working-class white Southerners as well. Interestingly, it was once common among New Englanders, but it largely died out in the early 19th century. 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 āscian and ācsian, and in Middle English both asken and axen. Moreover, the forms with cs or x had no stigma associated with them. Manuscripts of Chaucer use 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 substandard—a fate that has befallen other words, like ain't, that were once perfectly acceptable in literate circles.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ax
or axe
(æks)n., pl. ax•es (ˈæk sɪz) n.
1. a tool with a blade on a handle or helve, used for hewing, cleaving, chopping, etc.
2. Slang. a jazz instrument, esp. a guitar or saxophone.
3. the ax,
v.t. a. a sudden, peremptory dismissal, as from a job.
b. a usu. summary removal or curtailment.
4. to shape or trim with an ax.
5. to chop, split, or break open with an ax.
6. to dismiss, restrict, or remove, esp. brutally or summarily: Congress axed the budget.
Idioms: have an ax to grind, to have a particular personal or selfish motive.
[before 1000; Old English æx, æces; akin to Old High German acc(h)us, a(c)kus, Old Norse øx, ǫx, Gothic aquizi, Latin ascia (<*acsiā), Greek axinē]
ax.
axiom.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ax
Past participle: axed
Gerund: axing
Imperative |
---|
ax |
ax |
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
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Noun | 1. | ax - an edge tool with a heavy bladed head mounted across a handle ax handle, axe handle - the handle of an ax blade - the flat part of a tool or weapon that (usually) has a cutting edge 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 hatchet - a small ax with a short handle used with one hand (usually to chop wood) |
Verb | 1. | ax - chop or split with an ax; "axe wood" |
2. | ax - terminate; "The NSF axed the research program and stopped funding it" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
ax
nounverb
Informal. To end the employment or service of:
Idioms: give someone his or her walking papers, give someone the ax, give someone the gate, give someone the pink slip, let go, show someone the door.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
sekyra
økse
kirves
sjekira
斧
도끼
yxa
ขวาน
rìu
axe
(ӕks) (American) ax noun a tool with a (long) handle and a metal blade for cutting down trees and cutting wood etc into pieces.
verb1. to get rid of; to dismiss. They've axed 50% of their staff.
2. to reduce (costs, services etc). Government spending in education has been axed.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
ax
→ بَلْطَة sekyra økse Beil τσεκούρι hacha kirves hache sjekira ascia 斧 도끼 bijl øks siekiera machado топор yxa ขวาน balta rìu 斧子Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009