Axis
The ‘pivot’ on which any matter turns.
A central prop, which sustains any system
(as Atlas was feigned to sustain the revolving heavens).
The relation between countries regarded as a common pivot
on which they revolve; esp. the political association of 1936 (becoming in 1939 a military alliance) formed between Italy
and Germany; later extended to that between Germany, Italy, and Japan; still later to that between other allied countries.
A ray passing through the centre of the eye or of a lense,
or falling perpendicularly on it; the line which passes through the centres of the lenses in a telescope; the straight line
from the eye to the object of sight.
