Cut down with an axe; or fired someone from a job; or cancelled a plan.
From Old English 'æx' (the tool), related to Germanic 'achs-.' The meaning expanded metaphorically from literal chopping to sudden cancellation.
The phrase 'get the axe' emerged during the Great Depression when budget cuts were sudden and brutal—originally from Hollywood when studios literally gave fired workers their severance as a physical axe!
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