pickaxe
pronunciation
How to pronounce pickaxe in British English:
UK [ˈpɪkæks]
How to pronounce pickaxe in American English:
US [ˈpɪkˌæks]
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- Noun:
- a heavy iron tool with a wooden handle and a curved head that is pointed on both ends
Word Origin
- pickaxe (n.)
- also pick-axe, early 15c., folk etymology alteration (by influence of axe) of Middle English picas (mid-13c.), via Anglo-French piceis, Old French pocois (11c.) and directly from Medieval Latin picosa "pick," related to Latin picus "woodpecker" (see pie (n.2)).
Example
- 1. I can provide you with a pickaxe .
- 2. Instead of a pickaxe , you can offer me some tea .
- 3. Armed with only one pickaxe and their bare hands , they tunneled their way through 66 feet of coal .
- 4. A few old-timers remain , but most of the 15000 delegates at this year 's event were more adept at wielding a blackberry than a pickaxe , and were more likely to have come from mongolia , peru or south africa than balmertown , northern ontario . Yet the conversation was reassuringly familiar .