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