pickaxe
/ˈpɪkˌæks/ noun, verb
Forms pickaxes pickaxing pickaxed pickax pick-axe
- noun A heavy iron tool with a wooden handle; one end of the head is pointed, the other has a chisel edge. “He was mining stone using a pickaxe.”
- verb To use a pickaxe.
Synonyms
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English pykeaxe, pecaxe, pyke exe (“pickaxe”), an alteration (due to folk etymology association with pick and axe) of Middle English pikeyse, pikeys, pykois, from Anglo-Norman *pikeis, Old French picois, pecois, from Latin picōsa (“pickaxe”), from picca, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *pīk (“sharp point, pike”). Doublet of pique and pike.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A pick with a point at one end, a transverse edge or blade at the other, and a handle inserted at the middle; a hammer with a flattened end for driving wedges and a pointed end for piercing as it strikes. Shak.
Etymology [A corruption of OE. pikois, pikeis, F. picois, fr. pic. See Pick, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pickaxe”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details