Have an axe to grind

To have an axe (ax, if you are American) to grind is a rarity when it comes to idioms or metaphorical expressions. Generally, there is consensus about the meaning of such expressions, but argument about the origin thereof. In the instance of this week's idiom, it is the other way round, with greater consensus about the origin of the expression than its meaning – well, almost.

The meaning of the expression differs from source to source, with at least one source admitting that “this idiom has at least two meanings".

We could find at least six:

• If you have an axe to grind, you have a strong opinion about something and you express this opinion whenever you can;
• You have an axe to grind with someone when you are angry with that person and you plan to confront them;
• If you have an axe to grind about something, you have a grievance, a resentment, and you want to get revenge or sort it out;
• To have a selfish aim or motive;
• It indicates a fixation, madness; and
• It indicates an obsession, consumption with belief, desire…;

It is generally accepted – at least by American sources – that it comes from a story by Charles Miner, published in 1811, about a boy who was flattered into turning the grindstone for a man sharpening his axe. He worked hard until the school bell rang, whereupon the man, instead of thanking the boy, began to scold him for being late and told him to hurry to school. "Having an axe to grind" then came into figurative use for having a personal motive for some action.

But then there are sources that claim the expression has it origins with the writer Benjamin Franklin, who used it in a similarly themed biographical story first published in 1791.

Well, at least both men came from the American state of Pennsylvania and, if the American claims are correct, perhaps it should be an ax.