Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary -- Volume AB

"The spelling ax is better on every ground, of etymology, phonology, and analogy, than axe, which has of late become prevalent." New English Dict. (Murray).

Ax (?), v. t. & i. [OE. axien and asken. See Ask.] To ask; to inquire or inquire of.

This word is from Saxon, and is as old as the English language. Formerly it was in good use, but now is regarded as a vulgarism. It is still dialectic in England, and is sometimes heard among the uneducated in the United States. "And Pilate axide him, Art thou king of Jewis?" "Or if he axea fish." Wyclif. 'bdThe king axed after your Grace's welfare." Pegge.

Ax"al (?), a. [See Axial.] [R.]

Axe (?), Axe"man (?), etc. See Ax, Axman.

Ax"i·al (?), a.

1. Of or pertaining to an axis; of the nature of, or resembling, an axis; around an axis.

To take on an axial, and not an equatorial, direction.
Nichol.

2. (Anat.) Belonging to the axis of the body; as, the axial skeleton; or to the axis of any appendage or organ; as, the axial bones.

-- Axial line (Magnetism), the line taken by the magnetic force in passing from one pole of a horseshoe magnet to the other. Faraday.

Ax"i·al·ly (?), adv. In relation to, or in a line with, an axis; in the axial (magnetic) line.

Ax"il (?), n. [L. axilla. Cf. Axle.] (Bot.) The angle or point of divergence between the upper side of a branch, leaf, or petiole, and the stem or branch from which it springs. Gray.

Ax"ile (?), a. Situated in the axis of anything; as an embryo which lies in the axis of a seed. Gray.