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ax

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The definition of an ax is a tool with a blade on a handle used for cutting.

(noun)

An example of an ax is what one uses to cut down a tree.

To ax is defined as to split or chop down with an ax, or to get rid of.

(verb)

An example of to ax is to cut down a tree.

See ax in Webster's New World College Dictionary

or axe

noun pl. axes

a tool for chopping trees and splitting wood: it has a long wooden handle and a metal head with a blade usually on only one side
any similar tool or weapon, as a battle-ax, headsman's ax, etc.
☆ Slang a musical instrument

Origin: ME < OE eax, æx < IE base *agw(e)si > Goth aqizi, Gr axinē, L ascia

transitive verb axed, axing

to trim, split, etc. with an ax
to cut off, remove, get rid of, etc.

axiom
axis

See ax in American Heritage Dictionary 4

or axe

noun pl. ax·es (ăkˈsĭz)

A tool with a bladed, usually heavy head mounted crosswise on a handle, used for felling trees or chopping wood.
Any of various bladed, hand-held implements used as a cutting tool or weapon.
Informal A sudden termination of employment: My colleague got the ax yesterday.
Slang A musical instrument, especially a guitar.

transitive verb axed axed, ax·ing, ax·es

To chop or fell with or as if with an ax: axed down the saplings; axed out a foothold in the ice.
Informal To remove ruthlessly or suddenly: a social program that was axed to effectuate budget cuts.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English

Origin: , from Old English ǽx

verb 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 āscian and ācsian, 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 substandard—a fate that has befallen other words, like ain't, that were once perfectly acceptable in literate circles.

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