axe

Plural: axes

Noun

• an edge tool with a heavy bladed head mounted across a handle
• A tool for felling trees or chopping wood etc. consisting of a heavy head flattened to a blade on one side, and a handle attached to it.
• An ancient weapon consisting of a head that has one or two blades and a long handle.
• A dismissal or rejection.
• A drastic reduction or cutback.
• A gigging musician's particular instrument, especially a guitar in rock music or a saxophone in jazz.
• A position, interest, or reason in buying and selling stock, often with ulterior motives.
• The axle of a wheel.

Verb

Verb Forms: axed, axing, axes

• To cut, dismiss, or work on with an axe.
• chop or split with an ax
  • "axe wood"
• terminate
  • "The NSF axed the research program and stopped funding it"
• To fell or chop with an axe.
• To lay off, terminate or drastically reduce, especially in a rough or ruthless manner; to cancel.
• To furnish with an axle.
• Alternative form of ask.

Examples

• A financial dealer has an axe in a stock that his buyers don't know about, giving him an advantage in making the most profit.
• He got axed in the last round of firings.
• His girlfriend/boss/schoolmaster gave him the axe.
• I had to axe my hopes of a bingo when I drew another ’I’.
• the Beeching Axe
• The broadcaster axed the series because far fewer people than expected watched it.
• The government announced its plans to axe public spending.

Synonyms

ax, axe, boot, can, chop, decruit, dehire, discard, discharge, dismiss, downsize, fire, give someone the boot, give someone the heave-ho, give someone the old heave-ho, give someone their cards, give the axe, give the chop, give the elbow, lay off, let go, let someone go, make redundant, pink slip, promote to customer, retrench, sack, serve notice, shit-can, term, terminate, throw out, unhire

Related Words

adze, hatchet, twibill

Anagrams of axe