1An imaginary line about which a body rotates.

地球每24小时绕轴线自转一周。

1. 1.1Geometry An imaginary straight line passing through the centre of a symmetrical solid, about which a plane figure can be conceived as rotating to generate the solid.
   〔几何〕（对称）轴
   Example sentencesExamples

   • He examined the three dimensional figures obtained by rotating a regular polygon about an axis of symmetry.
   • While at Göttingen Segner discovered that every solid body has three axes of symmetry.
   • Many eighteenth-century manuals on gauging treated barrels as solids generated by rotating conic sections about their axes.
   • If a plane figure is rotated about an axis in its plane then the volume of the solid body formed is equal to the product of the area with the distance travelled by the centre of gravity.
2. 1.2 An imaginary line which divides something into equal or roughly equal halves, especially in the direction of its greatest length.
   中心轴
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The eastern corner where the main entrance is set is even symmetrical about its diagonal axis, the entrance doors being placed to either side of a completely square stair tower.
   • The skeleton of the tadpole was defined as the centerline axis of the body.
   • Recent anatomic work in the rat has shown that the superior longitudinalis muscle runs in the midline along the long axis of the tongue.
   • ‘There's a row of handholds that way,’ Eaton said, pointing down the long axis of the ship.
   • The long axis of the structure at Woodhenge points to the entrance into the henge; like Stonehenge, the whole site is orientated towards the rising midsummer sun.
   • Foster's scheme features a ‘jewel box,’ a glass and steel structure that runs along the central axis of the museum.
   • The dorsal and anal fins, which push the fish along, are way off the central axis of its body, yet the animal swims a straight path without rocking up and down.
   • And if you want even more space you can move the middle seat rearward and adjust the two seats on a diagonal axis to the centre of the car, making a more comfortable four-seater.
   • The dual oil coolers were situated at 90 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft.
   • Koch analyses that in Shah Jahan era, painting third dimension reality is flattened and arranged around a central axis that divides the picture into two equal parts.
   • Occasionally, the number of tubules in a blade or the number of blades was different along the longitudinal axis of a basal body.
   • The pond runs down the central axis, bringing the core of the garden to its shores.
   • Militaristically, the correct etiquette for the bow, what one does and doesn't do, is based on a correct center line axis of the body, as in skiing.
   • The horizontal axis divides the short and long arms into approximately a proximal one-third and distal two-thirds portions.
   • In order to facilitate comparison among layers, all angles were measured as acute angles relative to the horizontal axis of the body.
   • The posterior margin of the carapace is ornamented with a distinct single line of rounded tubercles that are broadly symmetrical about the midline axis of the carapace.
   • The width of a molecule at a given point along the contour length is the diameter of the horizontal axis of the elliptical cross section at that point.

2Mathematics
A fixed reference line for the measurement of coordinates.

3A straight central part in a structure to which other parts are connected.

1. 3.1Botany The central column of an inflorescence or other growth.
   〔植〕体轴；茎轴
   the leaflets are arranged in rows on a slender axis

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Each module of a sympodium consists of an axis bearing two bracts and terminating in a flower.
   • This group is morphologically characterized by boat-shaped extrafloral nectar cups and a long inflorescence axis exhibiting a more racemose arrangement of the flowers.
   • The sympodia are arranged more or less parallel to the stem axis and follow the phyllotactic spirals of the leaves.
   • In addition, the stems (including the axis of the inflorescence) serve as temporary storage sites.
   • The different types of flowers are initiated acropetally along the axis of the inflorescence.
2. 3.2Zoology The skull and backbone of a vertebrate animal.
   〔动〕中轴
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Without functional analyses of axial ligaments, the basis for flexural stiffness in any particular vertebrate axis is wanting.
   • Thus shear loading mechanisms may play a central role in integrative models of the vertebrate body axis.
   • In spite of, or perhaps because of, the relative dearth of information on the vertebrate body axis, a groundswell of interest and activity is underway.
   • The body axis of vertebrates is an integrated cylinder of bones, connective tissue, and muscle.
   • This is the architecture that supports and is supported by the vertebrate axis, namely the notochord or vertebral column.
   • The caudal fin represents the distal region of the vertebrate axis and is the region of the body where fluid accelerated anteriorly is shed into the surrounding medium.

4Anatomy
The second cervical vertebra, below the atlas at the top of the backbone.

5An agreement or alliance between two or more countries that forms a centre for an eventual larger grouping of nations.

英美联盟。

1. 5.1 The alliance of Germany and Italy formed before and during the Second World War, later extended to include Japan and other countries.
   轴心国（第二次世界大战之前和期间形成的德意联盟，后有日本及其他国家加入）
   as modifier the Axis Powers

   Example sentencesExamples

   • As someone who played a victim of the Nazis, I doubt he would've wanted no one to stand up and fight against Hitler and the Axis, ya know?
   • Of course, these weapons were useless if they could not be brought to bear against the Axis powers.
   • Soon, the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, had conquered the whole of Europe.
   • Walshe was an admirer of Mussolini and when the war began he favoured an Axis victory.
   • The Axis of German forces were dug in along two lines, called by the Allies the Oxalic Line and the Pierson Line.
   • The defeat of the Afrika Korps was a brutal blow to the Axis powers.
   • There, they pronounced the formula of unconditional surrender for the Axis powers.
   • Both the Allies and the Axis countries were looking for a new way to encrypt messages - a way that would result in complete security.
   • Its name originated as a cover term for the countries which fought against the Axis in the Second World War.
   • As a nation, we can hold our heads high for the role we played in defeating the Nazis and the tyranny of the Axis powers.
   • The Allies are led by Britain, the Axis by Germany and the Comintern by the Soviet Union.
   • Delivering a left hook to try to trap the Axis forces on the Mareth Line, Freyberg hesitated at the vital moment.
   • By the summer of 1943, it was already apparent that the Axis powers were confronting defeat.
   • Their secret agenda, crushing the Axis into submission, was holy and treated as such.
   • The Axis in response sought to hold Tunisia with fresh troops and the remnants of the German-Italian army that had fled Egypt.
   • Unlike the Grand Alliance, the Axis coalition formed by the pact had no agreed strategy for fighting the war.
   • In 1940, Franco declined Hitler's request to join the Axis in World War Two.
   • Neither XXX nor XIII Corps were able to break through to exploit the more open country to the rear of the Axis position.
   • If Britain controlled the Suez then Germany and the Axis powers could not use it.
   • In North Africa, it represented the whole Free World against the Axis powers - Germany and Italy.

A deer that has lyre-shaped antlers and a yellowish-brown coat with white spots, native to India and Sri Lanka.