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general::
noun tool VERB + AXE brandish, carry, hold, wield A man used to wielding an axe fought best on foot. | chop sth down/up with, use | swing | sharpen AXE + VERB fall The executioner's axe fell. PREP. with an/the ~ to chop a tree down with an axe PHRASES a blow from/of an axe With a few swift blows of the axe, she severed the cable. the axe: complete loss of sth/big reduction in sth VERB + AXE swing, wield Wielding the axe on the prison plan would be one way of saving money. | face Up to 300 workers are facing the axe at a struggling Merseyside firm. | save sb/sth from Patients are delighted their local hospital has been saved from the axe. AXE + VERB fall We were expecting bad news but had no idea where the axe would fall (= where the loss/reduction would be).
Oxford Collocations Dictionary