Meaning – This idiom has 2 meanings: (1) to want to have an argument or discussion about something, (2) to have a personal agenda or hidden motive for doing something
In Context – (1) I’ve got an axe to grind with you! That report you filed was full of errors. (2) I hope John won’t talk about the Pope at dinner. He’s always got an axe to grind about the church.
Idioms with a synonymous meaning – to have a bone to pick. I’ve got a bone to pick with you! That report you filed was full of errors.
QUOTES WITH ‘AN AXE TO GRIND’
I don’t lecture and I don’t grind any axes. I just want to entertain. Gregory Peck
Interviews are usually a follow-up, like a press junket or a publicity junket, or something like that, and I’m not doing any of that right now. I don’t have any axes to grind. Michael Nesmith
Everybody favours free speech in the slack moments when no axes are being ground. Heywood Broun