| 释义 |
ax 或 axe AHD[ăks] D.J.[æks]K.K.[æks]n.（名词）【复数】 ax.es[ăkʹsĭz] - A tool with a bladed, usually heavy head mounted crosswise on a handle, used for felling trees or chopping wood.斧：一种带刀片的工具，一般重的一头十字交叉地安置在一个把手上，经常用来伐树或砍木头
- Any of various bladed, hand-held implements used as a cutting tool or weapon.砍伐工具：任何一种有刀口的，可以手握的器具，用于砍伐的工具或武器
- Informal A sudden termination of employment:【非正式用语】 解雇：职业的突然终止：My colleague got the ax yesterday.我的同事昨天被解雇了
- Slang A musical instrument, especially a guitar.【俚语】 吉他：乐器，特别指吉他
v.tr.（及物动词）axed, ax.ing, ax.es - To use a heavy, bladed cutting implement in order to chop or fell (something).用斧砍：使用沉重的带刀口的砍伐器具砍或者砍倒（某物）
- Informal To remove ruthlessly or suddenly:【非正式用语】 削减，删减：无情地或突然地去除：a social program that was axed to effectuate budget cuts.为实现预算削减而被无情去除的社会项目
ax to grind - A selfish or subjective aim:自私企图，个人打算：自私或主观的目的：He claimed to be disinterested, but I knew he had an ax to grind.他宣称无私利，但我知道他另有企图
- Middle English 中古英语
- from Old English æx 源自 古英语 æx
注释- To understand the origin of the idiomax to grind, we need to know thatgrind means "to sharpen.” This phrase is said to have come from a story by the 19th-century journalist Charles Miner (alias Poor Robert) about a seemingly friendly manwho was able by flattery to persuade a young boy to turn a grindstone for him.The tale first appeared in the Luzerne, Pennsylvania,Federalist on September 7, 1810, under the title "Who'll Turn Grindstones?” and later in an 1815 book entitledEssays from the Desk of Poor Robert the Scribe. Because "Poor Robert" was confused with "Poor Richard,”the story has often been erroneously attributed to Benjamin Franklin.The idiom itself is an Americanism—a word or expression originating in the United States.It was at first restricted to political contexts,but quotations from James Joyce ("Skin-the-Goat . . . evidently with an axe to grind, was airing his grievances")and George Bernard Shaw ("distinguished statesmen of different nations . . . each with a national axe to grind") attest that the phrase has traveled abroad and,as we know only too well, is no longer found only in political contexts.为了理解成语ax to grind 的出处， 我们需要知道grind 意思是“磨尖”。 这个短语据说出自19世纪旅行家查尔斯·麦纳（别名穷罗伯特）所写的关于一个似乎很友善的人的故事，他能够奉承地劝说一名男孩为他翻过一块磨光石。这个传说第一次出现在1810年9月7日宾夕法尼亚州的卢泽恩，在1810年9月7日题为“谁将推翻磨石”的联邦制拥护者 中提到， 之后1815年又在名为作家穷·罗伯特文集 一书中提到。 因为"poor Robert和"poor Richard"易被弄混淆，这个故事经常被错误地认为是本杰明·弗兰克林创作的。这个成语本身是美国式的词或表达源于美国。一开始被限于在政治性言词的情况中使用，但是从以下的引文表明这个短语已广泛地传播，一个是引于詹姆斯·琼斯（“这个显然别有企图的披着人皮的狼，正在诉苦”），另一个引自乔治·萧伯纳（“辨认出不同国家的人…每个国家都有自己国家的打算”），正如我们所熟知的，它不会只在政治性言论的上下文间才可以找到的
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