/ æks; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun ( especially BrE ) ( US usually ax )
1.
a tool with a wooden handle and a heavy metal blade, used for chopping wood, cutting down trees, etc.
—see also battleaxe , ice axe , pickaxe
2.
the axe [ sing. ] ( informal ) if sb gets the axe , they lose their job; if an institution or a project gets the axe , it is closed or stopped, usually because of a lack of money :
Up to 300 workers are facing the axe at a struggling Merseyside firm.
Patients are delighted their local hospital has been saved from the axe.
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IDIOMS
- have an axe to grind
■ verb ( BrE ) ( NAmE ax ) [ vn ] [ often passive ]
1.
to get rid of a service, system, etc. or to reduce the money spent on it by a large amount :
Other less profitable services are to be axed later this year.
2.
to remove sb from their job :
Jones has been axed from the team.
3.
to kill sb with an axe
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English æx , of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aaks and German Axt .