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pole axe

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pole ax noun A single-bitted, long-handled ax having a sharp blade on one side of its head and a flat square surface on the other side, used for cutting and for riving wedges.

1939 Hall Coll (Little Cataloochee NC) We heard some dogs a-comin’, and we looked out and we saw a deer ... and the dogs jerked him back, an’ my grandmother, she grabbed the ax, the pole ax, and she went, hit it one lick. 1940 Oakley Roamin’/Restin’ 22 We had an ax to chop down trees in case the dogs treed anything up a tree. This ax was called a pole ax in the mountains. 1964 Clarkson Lumbering in WV 368 = an ax with a sharp blade on one side and square on the other side ... Same as a single-bitted ax. a1975 Lunsford It Used to Be 48 The only thing left to do was take a pole axe (that’s an axe with the square part in the back) and knock the hog in the head.

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