Ax

ax

Hand tool used for chopping, splitting, chipping, and piercing. Stone Age hand axes originated in simple stone implements that acquired wooden hafts, or handles, about 30,000 BC. Copper-bladed axes appeared in Egypt about 4000 BC and were followed by axes with blades of bronze and eventually iron. The development of the iron-bladed felling ax in the Middle Ages made possible the vast forest clearances of Europe, North and South America, and elsewhere. Though the ax has lost much of its historic role to powered saws and other machinery, it remains a widely used tool with many uses.

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axe (US), ax

1. a hand tool with one side of its head forged and sharpened to a cutting edge, used for felling trees, splitting timber, etc.

2. the axe Informal

a. dismissal, esp from employment; the sack (esp in the phrase get the axe)

b. Brit severe cutting down of expenditure, esp the removal of unprofitable sections of a public service

3. US slang any musical instrument, esp a guitar or horn

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ax [aks]

(design engineering)

An implement consisting of a heavy metal wedge-shaped head with one or two cutting edges and a relatively long wooden handle; used for chopping wood and felling trees.

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ax

ax, 1

1. A sharp-edged steel tool for splitting wood, hewing timber, etc.

2. An axhammer.

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Ax 

a chopping tool meant primarily for working with wood; also used as a weapon. The ax was first used in the early Neolithic period. It was shaped like an elongated stone wedge affixed to the split end of a wooden handle. During the late Neolithic and the Bronze Age, polished stone axes were widely used. Also in use during the Bronze Age were cast copper and bronze axes with an opening in the blade for the handle. Later, stone axes, also with openings for the handle, were made in the shape of metal axes with simulated cast seams. During the Iron Age, iron axes with eye holes were in wide use.

In Ancient Rus’ of the 11th to 13th centuries, there were different axes for the felling of timber, for carpentry, and for battle; battle axes were often richly ornamented. The type of ax in use today appeared in the early 17th century.