Definition of "poleax" [pole•ax]

• An ax having a hammer face opposite the blade, used to slaughter cattle. (noun)
• A medieval battle-ax consisting of a long shaft ending in an ax or a combination of an ax, hammer, and pick. (noun)
• To strike or fell with or as if with a poleax: "When a gang of doves circled above the flowing water and swooped in to feed, he poleaxed the leader with a clean head shot” ( William Hoffman). (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "You could poleax these people with a sledgehammer to the noggin, morning, noon and night, and still nothing would get through."
• "Aren't they cute when you poleax them with reality?"
• "Nearby, Vaako, realizing what had happened, realizing what it meant, let the ancient poleax he still held fall to the ground."