axe vs crosscut

axe

verb
  • To fell or chop with an axe. 

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

  • To furnish with an axle. 

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. 

crosscut

verb
  • To cut across something. 

  • To cut (wood, lumber) across the grain. 

  • To cut repeatedly between two concurrent scenes. 

noun
  • A crosswise cut. 

  • A shortcut. 

  • A crosscut saw. 

  • A level driven across the course of a vein, or across the main workings, as from one gangway to another. 

  • An instance of filmic crosscutting. 

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