ax
/æks/
Reviewed on
Also a verb
Meaning
A heavy cutting tool consisting of an edged metal head attached to a handle, used primarily for chopping wood.
He grabbed a sharp ax from the shed and began chopping firewood for the winter.
An abrupt termination, dismissal, or drastic cancellation of a job, budget, or project.
After several quarters of declining revenue, the marketing team finally got the ax.
Collocations
- battle ax
- chop with an ax
- swing an ax
- get the ax
- give the ax
Idioms
have an ax to grind
to have a selfish or biased motive for doing something
The reviewer clearly had an ax to grind after being publicly criticized by the author.
Meaning
To abruptly cancel, reduce, or dismiss a person, program, or budget.
The studio decided to ax the expensive sci-fi series after only one season.
To chop or cut down something with a heavy edged blade.
The workers had to ax the damaged branches to clear the mountain trail.
How it's used
This means “cancel or cut suddenly”
- ax the project
“ax it.”
Management decided to ax the proposed merger due to rising costs.
Collocations
- ax a program
- ax jobs
- ax the budget
- ax funding