ax ['aks] -n

  1. a cutting tool that consists of a heavy edged head fixed to a handle with the edge parallel to the handle and that is used esp. for felling trees and chopping and splitting wood
  2. a hammer with a sharp edge for dressing or spalling stone
  3. abrupt removal (as from employment or from a budget) sometimes used in the phrase get the ax
  4. a musical instrument (as a guitar or a saxophone)
  5. to shape, dress, or trim with an ax
  6. to chop, split, or sever with an ax
  7. to remove abruptly (as from employment or from a budget)
  8. axiom
  9. axis

ax·el ['ak-səl, 'äk-] -n

  1. a jump in figure skating from the outer forward edge of one skate with 1 turns taken in the air and a return to the outer backward edge of the other skate

axe·nic [(,)ā-'ze-nik, -'zē-] -adj, adv

  1. free from other living organisms

ax·i·al ['ak-sē-əl] -adj, n, adv

  1. of, relating to, or having the characteristics of an axis
  2. situated around, in the direction of, on, or along an axis
  3. extending in a direction essentially perpendicular to the plane of a cyclic structure (as of cyclohexane)
    • axial hydrogens

axial skeleton -n

  1. the skeleton of the trunk and head

ax·il ['ak-səl, -,sil] -n

  1. the angle between a branch or leaf and the axis from which it arises

ax·il·la [ag-'zi-lə, ak-'si-] -n

  1. the cavity beneath the junction of a forelimb and the body
  2. armpit

ax·il·lar [ag-'zi-lər, ak-'si-, 'ag-zə-, 'ak-sə-, -,lär] -n

  1. an axillary part (as a feather)

ax·il·lary ['ak-sə-,ler-ē, -,le-rē] -adj

  1. of, relating to, or located near the axilla
  2. situated in or growing from an axil
    • axillary buds

axillary -n

  1. one of the feathers arising from the axilla and closing the space between the flight feathers and body of a flying bird

ax·i·ol·o·gy [,ak-sē-'ä-lə-jē] -n, adj, adv

  1. the study of the nature, types, and criteria of values and of value judgments esp. in ethics

ax·i·om ['ak-sē-əm] -n

  1. a maxim widely accepted on its intrinsic merit
  2. a statement accepted as true as the basis for argument or inference : postulate
  3. an established rule or principle or a self-evident truth

ax·i·om·at·ic [,ak-sē-ə-'ma-tik] -adj, adv

  1. taken for granted : self-evident
    • an axiomatic truth
  2. based on or involving an axiom or system of axioms
    • axiomatic set theory

ax·i·omat·i·sa·tion [,ak-sē-ə-,ma-tə-'zā-shən, -sē-,ä-mə-tə-] -n, vt

(variant of axiomatization)

  1. the act or process of reducing to a system of axioms

ax·i·omat·i·za·tion [,ak-sē-ə-,ma-tə-'zā-shən, -sē-,ä-mə-tə-] -n, vt

  1. the act or process of reducing to a system of axioms

axiom of choice

  1. an axiom in set theory that is equivalent to Zorn's lemma: for every collection of nonempty sets there is a function which chooses an element from each set

ax·ion ['ak-sē-(,)än] -n

  1. a hypothetical subatomic particle of low mass and energy that is postulated to exist because of certain properties of the strong force

ax·is ['ak-səs] -n

  1. a straight line about which a body or a geometric figure rotates or may be supposed to rotate
  2. a straight line with respect to which a body or figure is symmetrical called also axis of symmetry
  3. a straight line that bisects at right angles a system of parallel chords of a curve and divides the curve into two symmetrical parts
  4. one of the reference lines of a coordinate system
  5. the second vertebra of the neck on which the head and first vertebra turn as on a pivot
  6. any of various central, fundamental, or axial parts
  7. a plant stem
  8. one of several imaginary lines assumed in describing the positions of the planes by which a crystal is bounded and the positions of atoms in the structure of the crystal
  9. a main line of direction, motion, growth, or extension
  10. an implied line in painting or sculpture through a composition to which elements in the composition are referred
  11. a line actually drawn and used as the basis of measurements in an architectural or other working drawing
  12. any of three fixed lines of reference in an aircraft that run in the longitudinal, lateral, and vertical directions, are mutually perpendicular, and usu. pass through the aircraft's center of gravity
  13. partnership, alliance
  14. a point or continuum on which something centers
    • an axis of social power

Axis -adj

  1. of or relating to the three powers Germany, Italy, and Japan engaged against the Allied nations in World War II

axis deer -n

  1. a deer ( Axis axis) of India and surrounding areas having brownish hair with white spots

axi·sym·met·ric [,ak-si-sə-'me-trik] -adj, n

  1. symmetric in respect to an axis

ax·le ['ak-səl] -n

  1. a pin or shaft on or with which a wheel or pair of wheels revolves
  2. a fixed bar or beam with bearings at its ends on which wheels (as of a cart) revolve
  3. the spindle of such a beam
  4. axis

axle·tree [-(,)trē] -n

  1. axle

ax·man ['aks-mən] -n

  1. one who wields an ax

Ax·min·ster ['aks-,min(t)-stər] -n

  1. a machine-woven carpet with pile tufts inserted mechanically in a variety of textures and patterns

ax·o·lotl ['ak-sə-,lä-tᵊl] -n

  1. any of several salamanders (genus Ambystomaesp. A. mexicanumand A. tigrinum) of mountain lakes of Mexico and the western U.S. that ordinarily live and breed in the larval form without metamorphosing

ax·on ['ak-,sän] -n, adj

  1. a usu. long and single nerve-cell process that usu. conducts impulses away from the cell body

ax·o·neme ['ak-sə-,nēm] -n, adj

  1. the fibrillar bundle of a flagellum or cilium that usu. consists of nine pairs of microtubules arranged in a ring around a single central pair

ax·o·no·met·ric [,ak-sə-nō-'me-trik] -adj

  1. being or prepared by the projection of objects on the drawing surface so that they appear inclined with three sides showing and with horizontal and vertical distances drawn to scale but diagonal and curved lines distorted
    • an axonometric drawing

axo·plasm ['ak-sə-,pla-zəm] -n, adj

  1. the protoplasm of an axon