England formed by the Rivers Trent, Idle, and Don, in the north-west angle of Lincolnshire, 17 miles long, 4½ broad.
Axil, or Axilla, in botany, the angle between the upper side of a leaf and the stem or branch from which it springs. Buds usually appear in the axils, and flowers or flower-stalks growing in this way are called axillary.
Ax´im, a town of W. Africa, on the Gold Coast.
Ax´inite, a mineral, silicate of alumina, lime, &c., with boracic acid, deriving its name from the form of the crystals, the edges of which bear some resemblance to the edge of an axe.
Axin´omancy, an ancient method of divination by the movements of an axe (Gr. axinē) balanced on a stake, or of an agate placed on a red-hot axe. The names of suspected persons being uttered, the movements at a particular name indicated the criminal.
Ax´iom, a universal proposition, which the understanding must perceive to be true as soon as it perceives the meaning of the words, and therefore called a self-evident truth: e.g. A is A. In mathematics, axioms are those propositions which are assumed without proof, as being in themselves independent of proof, and which are made the basis of all the subsequent reasoning; as, 'The whole is greater than its part'; 'Things that are equal to the same thing are equal to one another'. See Geometry.
Axis, the straight line, real or imaginary, passing through a body or magnitude, on which it revolves, or may be supposed to revolve; especially a straight line with regard to which the different parts of a magnitude, or several magnitudes, are symmetrically arranged; e.g. the axis of the world, the imaginary line drawn through its two poles.
In botany the word is also used, the stem being termed the ascending axis, the root the descending axis.
In anatomy the name is given to the second vertebra from the head, that on which the atlas moves. See Atlas.