axe vs terminate

axe

verb
  • To lay off, terminate or drastically reduce, especially in a rough or ruthless manner; to cancel. 

  • To furnish with an axle. 

  • To fell or chop with an axe. 

noun
  • A position, interest, or reason in buying and selling stock, often with ulterior motives. 

  • An ancient weapon consisting of a head that has one or two blades and a long handle. 

  • A dismissal or rejection. 

  • A tool for felling trees or chopping wood etc. consisting of a heavy head flattened to a blade on one side, and a handle attached to it. 

  • A drastic reduction or cutback. 

  • A gigging musician's particular instrument, especially a guitar in rock music or a saxophone in jazz. 

terminate

verb
  • To end the employment contract of an employee; to fire, lay off. 

  • Of a mode of transport, to end its journey; or, of a railway line, to reach its terminus. 

  • To conclude. 

  • To end, conclude, or cease; to come to an end. 

  • To set or be a limit or boundary to. 

  • To kill someone or something. 

  • To issue or result. 

  • To end something, especially when left in an incomplete state. 

adj
  • Having a definite and clear limit or boundary; having a determinate size, shape or magnitude. 

  • Terminated; limited; bounded; ended. 

  • Expressible in a finite number of terms; (of a decimal) not recurring or infinite. 

How often have the words axe and terminate occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )