See Also: poleaxe(dictionary)

mausoleum (oh) and poleaxe (iou)


mausoleum (oh)



[Date: 1400-1500; Language: Latin; Origin: Greek, from Mausolos king of Caria in ancient Turkey, for whom such a building was made]
a large stone building made specially to contain the body of a dead person, or the dead bodies of an important family
::the Lenin Mausoleum

poleaxe (iou)



poleaxe noun & verb. Also *poleax. ME.
[Middle Dutch pol(l)aex, Middle Low German pol(l)exe, from pol(le) POLL noun1 + aex AXE noun1; later assoc. with POLE noun1.]
A. noun.
Chiefly Hist. A battleaxe. Also, a short-handled axe used in naval warfare for boarding, cutting ropes, etc. ME.
Chiefly Hist. A halberd or similar long-handled weapon carried by a royal bodyguard. M16.
A butcher's axe, having a hammer at the back of the head and used to fell animals. E18.
b. verb trans. Fell with or as with a poleaxe. Freq. fig. L19.
A. Haley The man crumpled without a sound as if he had been poleaxed. L. Kennedy Poleaxed by this nonsense.