axle

[ak-suh l] /ˈæk səl/

noun

Machinery. the pin, bar, shaft, or the like, on which or by means of which a wheel or pair of wheels rotates.

the spindle at either end of an axletree.

Origin

before 900; Middle English axel, Old English eaxl shoulder, crossbeam (in eaxle-gespann); cognate with Old Frisian ax(e)le, Old Saxon ahsla, Old High German ahsala shoulder (German Achsel), Old Norse ǫxl, Latin āla (< derivative of *akslā)

Related forms

axled, adjective

unaxled, adjective

Can be confused

axel, axle.

Examples from the web for axle

Wheels on a car rotate around a strong horizontal bar called an axle.
Most drivers are barely aware of their wheels, the metal rims that connect the tires to the axle.
axle grease also freezes and is warmed with a blowtorch.
The accident was caused by the breaking of an axle of the express car.
The new configuration, called rear-mid-engine, places the motor under the rear seat and over the rear axle.
When you put the blocks together in certain ways, you can even make a sort of axle that spins.
The plan was to attach blades to the back axle of a bicycle and generate electricity through a bike dynamo.
Not something that will do in a pinch, but a boxed, branded windmill axle.
Than his bright throne, or burning axle-tree could bear.
Then an oaken stake is driven into the ground and a wheel is fixed on it as on an axle.

British Dictionary definitions for axle

axle

/ˈæksəl/

noun

a bar or shaft on which a wheel, pair of wheels, or other rotating member revolves

Word Origin

C17: from Old Norse öxull; related to German Achse; see axis1

Word Origin and History for axle

"pole or pin upon which a wheel revolves," Middle English axel-, from some combination of Old English eax and Old Norse öxull "axis," both from Proto-Germanic *akhsulaz (cf. Old English eaxl, Old Saxon ahsla, Old High German ahsala, German Achsel "shoulder"), from PIE *aks- "axis" (see axis). Found only in compound axle-tree before 14c.

axle in Technology

language
An early string processing language in which a program consists of an "assertion table" specifying patterns and an "imperative table" specifying replacements.
["AXLE: An Axiomatic Language for String Transformations", K. Cohen et al, CACM 8(11):657-661, Nov 1965].
(2009-02-10)