Definition

1. Noun:
   • A heavy hand tool with a long wooden handle and a curved iron or steel head that is pointed at both ends, used for breaking up hard ground, rock, or other solid materials.

Usage

• The pickaxe is primarily used for manual labor tasks such as mining, digging, quarrying, and construction.
• It is swung to drive the pointed ends into a material to break it apart.
• It is a common tool in archaeology, gardening (for breaking hard soil), and emergency rescue operations.

Examples

• Noun:
  • The miner swung his pickaxe to break the coal seam.
  • Archaeologists carefully used a pickaxe to loosen the compacted earth around the artifact.
  • We need a pickaxe to break through this frozen ground.

Advanced Usage

• "To wield a pickaxe": To use or swing a pickaxe.
  • It takes strength and skill to wield a pickaxe effectively all day.
• Metaphorical Use: Can describe a strenuous, laborious effort to break through a difficult problem or barrier.
  • The negotiations were like using a pickaxe to break down a wall of mistrust.

Variants and Related Words

• Pick (noun): A simpler, often lighter, version of a pickaxe, sometimes with one pointed end and one chisel end. It is often used interchangeably with "pickaxe" in general contexts.
  • He used a pick to chip away at the ice.
• Mattock (noun): A similar digging tool with a broad blade on one end and a pick or axe on the other, used for digging and chopping.

Synonyms

• Pick
• Mining pick
• Ice pick (a much smaller, specialized tool)

Phrasal Verbs

(This word is a noun and does not have phrasal verbs.)

Related Idioms

• "Pickaxe and shovel work": Refers to very basic, physically demanding manual labor.
  • The initial phase of the project was all pickaxe and shovel work.

Noun

1. a heavy iron tool with a wooden handle and a curved head that is pointed on both ends
   • they used picks and sledges to break the rocks