pickaxe
9
5.1
- noun
- /ˈpɪkˌæks/
- UK
:
pico
- The cave was dark, and the expedition team relied on their pickaxes to uncover the ancient treasures buried deep within.
- wielding a pickaxe
Then are my multi bit screwdriver, my parts tray, my side cutters, my needle nose pliers and of course a pickaxe.
- Then are my multi bit screwdriver, my parts tray, my side cutters, my needle nose pliers and of course a pickaxe.
Examples
-
The ground was dry and rock-hard, but Mom just clenched her teeth, raised the pickaxe, and then hurled it down.
Fiction book (2001) -
The lumbermen, angry but undeterred, go to work with pickaxes and sledgehammers to get them free.
Blog text (12) -
I guess it's not every mother who can handle a pickaxe.
Fiction book (2001) -
The man in the bulky suit had a small pickaxe in his hand.
Fiction book (1998) -
Then he grabs his pickaxe and tries to work.
Fiction book (1998) -
The mass of worker ants is swinging pickaxes in the tunnel.
Fiction book (1998) -
Workers wearing helmets with lights in them raised their glistening arms to swing pickaxes against rock faces.
Fiction book (1993) -
Historically, my ancestors used plow horses to till the soil or pickaxes to mine coal.
Blog text (31) -
We passed gullies so raw they seemed to have been gouged out of the earth by enormous pickaxes.
Academic text (2012) -
The workers used their pickaxes to break up the hard rock for the new road.
Synonyms
∞
1.1
A thing you hold to do a job, like a hammer
35
5.3
A heavy tool with a wooden handle used to break rock
4
3.9
A heavy tool with a wooden handle and pointed metal ends for breaking hard ground or rocks
A hand tool with a pointed end and a flat blade for digging and breaking hard rocky soil
How Heavy
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word pickaxe comes from joining pick, meaning 'a sharp point', and axe, meaning 'a cutting tool', so it names a tool that has a pointed end for breaking and an axe-like side for cutting. That's why a pickaxe is a heavy tool used to break hard ground and rock.