the.com/poleaxe

means To poleaxe someone is to knock them flat or stun them utterly — whether with a physical blow or a piece of staggering news — and as a noun it's the long-handled medieval weapon that gave the verb its punch.

from From Middle English pollax, a marriage of 'poll' (meaning head — the same 'poll' in 'head count' and 'poll tax') and 'axe' — so literally a 'head-axe,' a blade on a long shaft for cleaving an enemy's skull. The popular spelling 'poleaxe' grew up later by association with 'pole,' which fit the long handle so neatly that the misreading stuck. The figurative sense — to be poleaxed by shock — swings from the very real image of a man dropped where he stands.