Definitions

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

  • noun A heavy iron tool with a wooden handle; one end of the head is pointed, the other has a chisel edge.
  • verb To use a pickaxe.

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

  • noun a heavy iron tool with a wooden handle and a curved head that is pointed on both ends

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French picois, later alteration due to folk etymology association with pick and axe.

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Examples

  • Without saying a word, the magicians each drew from beneath his cloak a pickaxe, and they cut a hole in the wall in a few minutes.

    Ting-a-ling Frank Richard Stockton 1868

  • All worship the pickaxe, which is symbolical of their profession, and an oath sworn on it binds closer than on the Koran.

    Himalayan Journals — Complete 1864

  • My Bloody Valentine is as blunt as its serial killer's pickaxe, which is used to kill more small town yokels than I'd ever dreamed possible.

    Portland Mercury 2009

  • My Bloody Valentine is as blunt as its serial killer's pickaxe, which is used to kill more small town yokels than I'd ever dreamed possible.

    Portland Mercury 2009

  • What we have is simple slasher fun at it’s zenith, I’m absolutely convinced that the pickaxe is the ideal weapon for a 3-D horror.

    MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3-D : Hell Yeah! | Obsessed With Film 2009

  • If there was a spoon or a knife missing, Abner often found it in the ploughed field, where I had been using it as a kind of pickaxe to dig my way through to China.

    Aunt Madge's Story Sophie May 1869

  • $feature { 'pickaxe'} { 'default'} = [1]; $feature { 'pickaxe'} { 'override'} = [1];

    Ubuntu Forums ju2wheels 2010

  • Running With the Donkeys Stephanie Simon/The Wall Street Journal Burros must carry 33 pounds of old-time mining equipment, including a pickaxe and shovel, to be eligible for competition.

    Hauling Burro: Donkey Racers Make Stubborn Bid for Recognition Stephanie Simon 2011

  • As he made some more markings with his chalk, he concluded that all the levers were probably trapped and he produced his pickaxe from his backpack and started hacking his way through the wall.

    D&D last night nathreee 2009

  • They bought a pickaxe, you know, these toy pickaxes, and they bought hard hats with lights on them and a flag from Chile.

    The Hottest 2010 Halloween Costumes 2010

Comments

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  • it's just a bad-ass word.

    May 8, 2008

  • True. Maybe we need a bad-ass tag... Hmm...

    May 9, 2008

  • Good idea.

    May 9, 2008