axe

1. (n) 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. 2. (n) An ancient weapon consisting of a head that has one or two blades and a long handle. 3. (n) (informal) A dismissal or rejection. 4. (n) (slang, music) A gigging musician's particular instrument, especially a guitar in rock music or a saxophone in jazz. 5. (n) (figurative) A drastic reduction or cutback. 6. (v) (transitive, figurative) To lay off, terminate or drastically reduce, especially in a rough or ruthless manner; to cancel. 7. (v) (transitive) To fell or chop with an axe. 8. (n) (finance) A position, interest, or reason in buying and selling stock, often with ulterior motives. 9. (v) To furnish with an axle. 10. (n) (archaic) The axle of a wheel. 11. (n) A river in Dorset, Somerset, and east Devon, England, which flows into Lyme Bay at Seaton. 12. (n) A river in Somerset, England, which flows into the Bristol Channel at Weston-super-Mare. 13. (v) (now obsolete outside dialects, especially African-American Vernacular) Alternative form of ask. [To request or petition.]