From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Axle \Ax"le\ ([a^]ks"'l), noun [OE. axel, exel, shoulder, AS. eaxl; akin to AS. eax axle, Sw. & Dan. axel shoulder, axle, G. achse axle, achsel shoulder, L. axis axle, Gr. 'a'xwn, Skr. aksha, L. axilla shoulder joint: cf. F. essieu, axle, OF. aissel, fr. dim. of L. axis. [root]205. Cf. 2d {Axis}.]
1. The pin or spindle on which a wheel revolves, or which revolves with a wheel.
2. A transverse bar or shaft connecting the opposite wheels of a car or carriage; an axletree.
3. An axis; as, the sun's axle.
Had from her axle torn The steadfast earth. --Milton.
Note: Railway axles are called leading and trailing from their position in the front or in the rear of a car or truck respectively.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a shaft on which a wheel rotates
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
AXLE An early string processing language. Program consists of an assertion table which specifies patterns, and an imperative table which specifies replacements. "AXLE: An Axiomatic Language for String Transformations", K. Cohen et al, CACM 8(11):657-661 (Nov 1965).
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