pole-axe, -ax, poleaxe, n.
(ˈpəʊlæks)
Forms: (4 poleax), 4–7 pollax, polax, 5 polle axe, polex, pollex (pol hax), 5–7 pollaxe, 6 polaxe, pol-ax (pulaxe), 7 poll-ax, 7– pole-ax, (6) 7– pole-axe, 6– poleaxe. β. Sc. 6 pow ax, 7 pow-aix.
[ME. pollax, polax, Sc. powax = MDu. polaex, pollaex, MLG. and LG. polexe, pollexe (whence MSw. 15th c. polyxe, pulyxe, MDa. polöxe), f. pol, poll n.1, Sc. pow, MDu., MLG. polle, pol head + axe: cf. MDu. polhamer = poll-hammer, also a weapon of war. It does not appear whether the combination denoted an axe with a special kind of head, or one for cutting off or splitting the head of an enemy. In the 16th c. the word began to be written by some pole-axe (which after 1625 became the usual spelling), as if an axe upon a pole or long handle. This may have been connected with the rise of sense 2. Similarly, mod.Sw. pålyxa and Westphalian dial. pålexe have their first element = pole. Sense 3 may be a substitute for the earlier bole-axe, which was applied to a butcher's axe.]
1. A kind of axe formerly used as a weapon of war, a battle-axe; also, a form of this retained till the end of the eighteenth century in naval warfare for boarding, resisting boarders, cutting ropes, etc.
It probably varied in form at different times, but originally (and in naval use to the end) it was a short-handled weapon, which could be hung at the saddle-bow or held under the shield, and used in close fighting: in the quot. from Chaucer it is one of the short weapons specially forbidden at the combat. Its use to render L. bipennis two-edged axe, in the Promptorium and Catholicon, and by Sandys, suggests that it had usually a cutting edge or point also on the side opposite the broad face.
| 13.. Coer de L. (W.) 6870 If the dogge wyl come to me, My pollax schal hys bane be. Ibid. 6972 [cf. 5053 Hys ax on his fore arsoun hyng]. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1686 No man ther fore vp peyne of los of lyf No maner shot polax [v.r. pollax] ne shorte knyf In to the lystes sende ne thider brynge Ne short swerd for to stoke with poynt bitynge. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 328 They..pletid wth pollaxis and poyntis of swerdis. 1422–61 in Cal. Proc. Chanc. Q. Eliz. (1827) I. Introd. 20 [He] woulde haf slayne me with ane polle axe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 407/2 Polax, bipennis. 1465 Marg. Paston in P. Lett. II. 215 Sum of hem havyng rusty polexis and byllys. 1483 Cath. Angl. 286/1 A Pollaxe, bipennis. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. xiii. 105 Hyr braid pollax, rasit sa on hie [validam..securim, altior exsurgens]. 1530 Palsgr. 179 Bec de faulcon, a poll⁓ax. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. IV 14 b, Sir Piers..with a strooke of his Pollax felled hym to the ground. 1551 Robinson More's Utopia ii. (1895) 262 At hande strokes they vse not swordes but pollaxes. 1561 Burgh Rec. Prestwick (Maitl. Cl.) 66 Ane slot staf, or ane pow ax. 1567 Lanc. Wills (1857) II. 86 My pulaxe..ij bills or pulaxes. 1604 in Pitcairn Crim. Trials II. ii. 432 With hagbuttis, pistolettis,..pow-aixes. 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. viii. (1626) 160 Behold, Ancæus with a polax [bipennifer Arcas]. Ibid., In both his hands Aduanc't his polax [Ancipitemque manu tollens utraque securim]. 1625 K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis iv. xxii. 320 Snatching their Pole axes which hung by their saddle-bowes, they fell afresh to the combat. 1644 Vicars God in Mount 164 They presently fell to it pell mell with their Swords and Pole-axes. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 291/2 Their Cutting Knife..many would rather take to be a Poll-ax. 1715–20 Pope Iliad xiii. 766 His right [arm], beneath, the cover'd pole-ax held. 1769–76 Falconer Dict. Marine, Pole-axe, a sort of hatchet..having an handle about 15 inches in length, and being furnished with a sharp point, or claw, bending downwards from the back of it's head... It is principally employed to cut away..the rigging of any adversary who endeavours to board. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 45 His henchman..Wi' ane pow-axe intill his hand. 1850 Prescott Peru II. 211 To deal furious blows with their pole-axes and war-clubs. |
† b. (?) Applied to an industrial implement. Obs.
Mentioned along with an iron hammer and 3 quarry wedges.
| 1356–7 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 557 Marescalcia. In uno malleo ferreo et 1 poleax, 3 Wharelwegges faciendis de proprio ferro. |
2. A halbert or similar long-handled weapon carried by the body-guard of a king or great personage. (In quot. 1585 applied (as shown by the accompanying plate) to a small axe-blade on a long lance.)
The original pollax of the body-guard may have been the same weapon as in sense 1, mounted on a long staff or pole; but it became mainly an ornamental weapon, often gilt and of various fanciful shapes.
| a 1562 G. Cavendish Wolsey (1893) 31, iiij footmen with gylt pollaxes in ther hands. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xiii. 126 b, His right hand bare a long launce, the poleaxe at the point being well steeled. 1598 Florio, Mazziére,..a halbardier or poleaxe man, such as the Queene of Englands gentlemen pencioners are. ? a 1600 Bk. Precedence in Q. Eliz. Acad., etc. 22 (MS. 1604) Then the Pentioners with ther poleaxes on each side of her maiestie. [1611 Cotgr., Bec de faulcon, a fashion of Pollax borne by the Peeres of France, and by the French kings Pensioners.] 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 326 His [Wolsey's] palaces..and body guards with gilded pole axes. |
3. An axe with a hammer at the back, used to fell or stun animals; a butcher's axe.
| 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. iii. 53 An ox is felled with a pole-axe. 1837 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. II. 7 The ox is first stunned by a violent blow on the head with a pole-axe. |
Hence ˈpoleaxe v. trans., to fell with a pole-axe; also fig.; whence ˈpoleaxed ppl. a.; ˈpoleˌaxer, one who uses a pole-axe; ˈpoleˌaxing vbl. n.
| 1882 Pall Mall G. 15 Nov. 5/1 By the Christian mode of poleaxing, sensibility was almost instantaneously destroyed. 1898 Daily News 27 July 8/6 She ought to be poleaxed. 1904 Daily Chron. 30 Aug. 3/3 Your valiant poleaxer has returned to the fray. 1906 Blackw. Mag. May 701/1 The slaughterer pole-axes an ox. |