Word.ws English Dictionary

poleaxe

US/ˈpoʊlˌæks/

poleaxe noun: an ax having both a blade and a hammer face; used to slaughter cattle.

Noun

poleaxe (plural poleaxes)

  1. An ax having both a blade and a hammer face; used to slaughter cattle.
  2. (historical) A long-handled battle axe, being a combination of ax, hammer and pike.

Verb

poleaxe (third-person singular simple present poleaxes, present participle poleaxing, simple past and past participle poleaxed)

  1. (transitive) To fell someone with, or as if with, a poleaxe.
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To astonish; to shock or surprise utterly.
    • Lisa Griffin, who runs Brew Rock and an Irish pub in nearby Benidorm, was as poleaxed by the announcement as her customers were.2020 July 26, Sam Jones, “'Everyone is panicking': UK quarantine decision shocks Britons in Spain”, in The Guardian
  3. (figuratively, transitive) To stymie, thwart, cripple, paralyze.
    • After a lacklustre campaign that has failed to grapple with Germany’s looming problems, the world should expect post-election coalition talks to last for months, poleaxing European politics while they drag on.2021 September 25, Zanny Minton Beddoes, “The Mess Merkel leaves behind”, in The Economist

Forms of poleaxe

Noun
pluralpoleaxes
alternative formpoleax
alternative formpole-axe
alternative formpollaxe
alternative formpollax
alternative formpolax
Verb
third-person singular presentpoleaxes
present participlepoleaxing
past participlepoleaxed
pastpoleaxed

Origin of poleaxe

From earlier pollax, from poll (“head”) + axe, with the spelling influenced by pole.

Questions about poleaxe

What does poleaxe mean?
Poleaxe means an ax having both a blade and a hammer face; used to slaughter cattle.
What part of speech is poleaxe?
Poleaxe can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce poleaxe?
Poleaxe is pronounced /ˈpoʊlˌæks/ (US).
What is the plural of poleaxe?
The plural of poleaxe is poleaxes.

Words near poleaxe in the dictionary

  1. pole-vaults
  2. polearm
  3. polearmed
  4. polearms
  5. poleax
  6. poleaxe
  7. poleaxed
  8. poleaxes
  9. poleaxing
  10. poleboat
  11. poleboats

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: poleaxe (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-poleaxe.wav.

Cite this entry: “poleaxe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/poleaxe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.