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Machinery. the pin, bar, shaft, or the like, on which or by means of which a wheel or pair of wheels rotates.
the spindle at either end of an axletree.
an axletree.
Contemporary Examples

The success of the whole structure was extremely sensitive to the size of the axle.
The Hardest Part of Inventing the Wheel? Not the Round Part. David Frum March 14, 2012

When we finally made it into the village, the axle on one of our trucks split in half.
A Man to Believe In: Eulogy for Marine Master Sergeant Aaron Torian Elliot Ackerman March 4, 2014

This intricate sequence wrapped us around the axle more than once during design and testing in the years preceding launch.
Curiosity’s Mars Landing Narrated Moment by Moment by Flight Director Keith Comeaux Keith Comeaux August 6, 2012

Historical Examples

For rabbits he uses Frazer’s axle grease, and kills borers with knife.
The Apple Various

Upon the axle of the winding pulley there is a break pulley, p.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 433, April 19, 1884 Various

The gearing is attached to the axle and countershaft which extend across the engine.
Farm Engines and How to Run Them James H. Stephenson

He looked more closely, and the axle of his cart had disappeared.
The Chinese Fairy Book Various

For rabbits I rub the trees with axle grease, or tar and fish oil, or old lard, mixed; apply with a cloth.
The Apple Various

And then he realized that the pear-tree which the bonze had chopped down must have been his axle.
The Chinese Fairy Book Various

This trolley carries the axle to an elevator, which lifts it to a conveyor baking oven, located in a section of the roof.
The Wonder Book of Knowledge Various

noun
a bar or shaft on which a wheel, pair of wheels, or other rotating member revolves
n.

“pole or pin upon which a wheel revolves,” Middle English axel-, from some combination of Old English eax and Old Norse öxull “axis,” both from Proto-Germanic *akhsulaz (cf. Old English eaxl, Old Saxon ahsla, Old High German ahsala, German Achsel “shoulder”), from PIE *aks- “axis” (see axis). Found only in compound axle-tree before 14c.
language
An early string processing language in which a program consists of an “assertion table” specifying patterns and an “imperative table” specifying replacements.
[“AXLE: An Axiomatic Language for String Transformations”, K. Cohen et al, CACM 8(11):657-661, Nov 1965].
(2009-02-10)