he has an axe to grind
Preserved but no longer current.
Some selfish motive in the background; some personal interest to answer. Franklin tells of a man who wanted to grind his axe, but had no time to turn the grindstone. Going to the yard where he saw young Franklin, he asked the boy to show him how the machine worked, kept praising him till his axe was ground, and then laughed at him for his pains.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “he has an axe to grind” mean?
Some selfish motive in the background; some personal interest to answer. Franklin tells of a man who wanted to grind his axe, but had no time to turn the grindstone. Going to the yard where he saw young Franklin, he asked the boy to show him how the machine worked, kept praising him till his axe was ground, and then laughed at him for his pains.
Is “he has an axe to grind” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.