noun, plural pole·ax·es [pohl-ak-siz] /ˈpoʊlˌæk sɪz/.
a medieval shafted weapon with blade combining ax, hammer, and apical spike, used for fighting on foot.
an ax, usually with a hammer opposite the cutting edge, used in stunning and slaughtering animals.
an ax with both a blade and a hook, formerly used in naval warfare to assist sailors in boarding vessels.
verb (used with object), pole·axed, pole·ax·ing.
to strike down or kill with or as if with a poleax.
noun, plural pole·ax·es [pohl-ak-siz] /ˈpoʊlˌæk sɪz/, verb (used with object), pole·axed, pole·ax·ing.
The sentry fell to the ground like a poleaxed steer and lay still.
I should simply have been poleaxed and dropped overboard, while the yacht sailed away.
As if poleaxed, the green man fell; and both the adventurers recovered their feet.
And I suppose if we strangled the children and poleaxed the husbands it would leave women free for higher culture.
kind of axe used as a weapon or by butchers, c.1300, pollax, from pol "head" (see poll (n.)) + ax (n.). From notion of beheading or head-splitting, or perhaps from the shape of the ax. Spelling altered 17c. by confusion with pole (n.1)).