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
A term used to refer to the UK's oddest classification, the "A-Road with Motorway Restrictions" Essentially these roads are a short section or bypass to an A-road which has been built and operates as a motorway Such roads are given the A-road's number, with (M) appended, hence the term Ax(M)
The broadax, or carpenter's ax, is an ax for hewing timber, made heavier than the chopping ax, and with a broader and thinner blade and a shorter handle
If someone is pole-axed, they are so surprised or shocked that they do not know what to say or do. Sitting pole-axed on the sofa, Mahoney stared in astonishment at the spectacle before him