ax
/æks/ proper noun
Forms axes axing axed
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English axen, aksen, axien, from Old English ācsian and āxian, showing metathesis from āscian. Ax/aks was common in literary works until about 1600.
From the German surname, spelling variant of Axt.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- verb To ask; to inquire or inquire of.
Etymology [OE. ax, axe, AS. eax, æx, acas; akin to D. akse, OS. accus, OHG. acchus, G. axt, Icel. öx, öxi, Sw. yxe, Dan. ökse, Goth. aqizi, Gr. , L. ascia; not akin to E. acute.]
Etymology [OE. axien and asken. See Ask.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “ax”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details