Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A supporting shaft or member on or with which a wheel or a set of wheels revolves.
  • noun The spindle of an axletree.
  • noun Either end of an axletree.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The pin or spindle on which a wheel revolves, or which forms the axis of the wheel and revolves with it.
  • noun An axis, as of the earth.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The pin or spindle on which a wheel revolves, or which revolves with a wheel.
  • noun A transverse bar or shaft connecting the opposite wheels of a car or carriage; an axletree.
  • noun An axis.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete Shoulder.
  • noun The pin or spindle on which a wheel revolves, or which revolves with a wheel.
  • noun A transverse bar or shaft connecting the opposite wheels of a car or carriage; an axletree.
  • noun An axis; as, the sun’s axle.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a shaft on which a wheel rotates

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English axel, from Old Norse öxull.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English axle, eaxle, from Old English eaxl ("shoulder, armpit"), from Proto-Germanic *ahslō (“shoulder”), from Proto-Indo-European *aḱs- (“armpit”). Cognate with Eastern Frisian acsle ("shoulder"), Dutch oksel ("armpit"), German Achsel ("armpit"), Swedish axel ("shoulder"), Latin axilla ("armpit"), Latin axis ("axle"), Greek άξονας (áksonas, "axle"), Sanskrit अक्ष (ákṣa, "axle"), Sanskrit कक्ष (kakṣá, "room, armpit"), Russian ось (os', "axle").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A combination of Old English eax and Old Norse öxull.

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Examples

  • I did try a Mathews once but after shooting a 45inch axle bow then shooting a 33in axle bow showed me everything I needed to stick with my bear.

    Speed Freaks? 2009

  • I did try a Mathews once but after shooting a 45inch axle bow then shooting a 33in axle bow showed me everything I needed to stick with my bear.

    Speed Freaks? 2009

  • Is the rear axle is the best place for a balanced load?

    Ford cargo truck? 2004

  • The front right wheel had been completely sheared from what Julia believed was called the axle.

    Some Fun Antonya Nelson 2006

  • The front right wheel had been completely sheared from what Julia believed was called the axle.

    Some Fun Antonya Nelson 2006

  • The front right wheel had been completely sheared from what Julia believed was called the axle.

    Some Fun Antonya Nelson 2006

  • Among other things, they have demonstrated that ATP synthase can be compared to a molecular machine, whose rotating bent axle is driven in a step-wise process by "biological electricity" - that is, the flow of hydrogen ions.

    The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1997 - Presentation Speech 1998

  • For example, the front axle is the same axle since 1924.

    An Address by Sir Malcolm Campbell 1933

  • He testified that if a tag axle tyre burst, its weight would be taken up by the wheels on the rear axle.

    News24 Top Stories 2009

  • The front axle and the tag axle tyres carried far less weight than the rear axle.

    News24 Top Stories 2009

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